917. ,3 


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LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


^917.3 
rC722e 


- 


THE 

EMIGBANT'S  HAND-BOOK; 

OR, 

A  DIRECTORY  AND  GUIDE 

FOR  PERSONS  EMIGRATING  TO  THE 

UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA; 

CONTAINING  ADVICE   AND   DIRECTIONS  TO  EMIGRANTS,  BUT  ESPE- 
CIALLY TO  THOSE  DESIGNING  TO  SETTLE  IN 

THE  GREAT  WESTERN  VALLEY. 

And  also,  a  Concise  Description  of  the  States  of  Ohio,  In- 
diana, Illinois,  Michigan,    Wisconsin,  Missouri 
and  Iowa,  and  the  Western  Territories;  and 
including  a  Statement  of  the  Modes 
and    Expenses  of  Travelling 

FROM 
NEW-YORK  TO  THE  INTERIOR, 

AND   AN    EXTENSIVE    LIST    OF    ROUTES    IN    EACH    STATE    BY    STEAM- 
BOATS, RAILROADS,  CANALS  AND  STAGES. 


ACCOMPANIED  WITH 

A  CORRECT  TRAVELLING  MAP  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


NEW-YORK : 

PUBLISHED  BY  J.   H.  COLTON, 

No   86  CEDAR-STREET. 

1848. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION . .  3 

Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America 8 

The  St.  Lawrence  Valley  or  Basin ., 27 

Vulley  of  the  Mississippi 29 

Valley  of  the  Ohio 30 

Upper  Mississippi  Valley 3*2 

Valley  of  the  Missouri 34 

Valley  of  the  Lower  Mississippi „ 37 

Inundations  of  the  Mississippi 39 

Face  of  the  Country 39 

Climate  of  the  Mississippi  Valley , , 42 

Public  Lands 4S 

Diagram  of  a  Township 51 

Away  to  the  West!     A  poem  :  By  W.  K.  COLE ., 52 

STATE  OF  OHIO.— Face   of   Count:-}—  Population— Pro 
ducts — Live  Stock— Rivers — Government — CINCINNATI — 

COLUMBUS — CLEVELAND — routes 53-61 

STATE  OF  INDIANA.— Face  of  Country— Products— Live 
Stock — Rivers —  Government-—  Population  —  INDIAN  APO 

LIS — LA  FAYETTE— routes 62-67 

STATE  OF  ILLINOIS.— Face  of  Country—  Prairies— Bar- 
rens— Products — Live  Stock — Rivers — Government — CHI- 
CAGO—SPRINGFIELD— Michigan  and  Illinois  Canal— ^Towns 

— routes. 68-S3 

STATE  OF  MISSOURI.— Face  of  Country— Products- 
Live  Stock — Rivers — Government — ST.  Louis — JKFFER- 

SON  CITY — routes,  ffc 64-90 

STATE  OF  MICHIGAN.— Face  of  Country— Products- 
Live  Stock — Rivers — Government — LANSING — DETROIT — 

routes,  &fc 91  97 

STATE  OF  WISCONSIN.— Surface— Lakes—  Rivers— Pro- 
ducts—  Live  Stock — Population  —  Climate  —  MADISON — 

MILWAUKIE — History — routes 98--10I 

STATE    OF    IOWA.— Face  of   Country— Products— Live 

Stock — Government — History — IOWA  CITY — routes 105-109 

WESTERN  TERRITORIES 109 

APPENDIX. — Letter  to  the  Publisher— Irish  Emigrant  So- 
ciety'n  Address — General  Routes  and  Rates  of  Fare — 
Value  of  Foreign  Coins 110-136 


Entered,  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1848,  by  J.  H. 

COLTON,  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United 

States  for  the  Southern  District  of  New- York. 


• 

en, 3 

ClZZs 
EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK, 

&C.    &C. 


INTRODUCTION. 

A  PERSON  about  to  emigrate  to,  or  visit  a  for- 
eign country,  naturally  feels  desirous  of  becom- 
ing acquainted  with  its  geography  and  resources, 
and  the  condition  and  habits  of  the  people  among 
whom  he  is  about  to  take  up  his  residence.  The 
want  of  this  knowledge  has  long  been  lamented 
by  thousands  who  have  come  to  the  shores  of  the 
United  States,  and  it  has  been  the  regret  of  phi- 
lanthropists, who  have  witnessed  the  evil  conse- 
quences of  a  hasty  and  immature  change  of 
location,  that  no  one  has  hitherto  supplied  the 
great  desideratum  so  much  needed  by  the  emi- 
grant— information.  The  "E?nigrant's  ffand- 
JBook"  is  published  with  the  view  of  giving,  in  as 
brief  a  manner  as  the  nature  of  the  subject  will 
allow  of,  such  information  as  is  required  by  those 
emigrating  from  Europe;  and  no  better  method  can 
be  adapted  to  this  end,  than  by  pointing  out  the 
present  condition  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
real  prospects  those  visiting  our  shores  may  in- 
dulge in. 

The  United  States  occupy  by  far  the  most 
valuable  and  the  most  temperate  portion  of  North 

283539 


4  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

^^ 

America.  Confined  originally  to  the  shores  of 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  this  great  confederacy  of 
republics  has  extended  its  empire  over  the  whole 
region  spreading  westward  to  the  Pacific,  and 
surpasses  in  internal  resources,  and  in  the  means 
of  developing  its  natural  wealth,  the  capacities 
of  any  of  the  empires  of  the  old  world.  To  the 
miner,  the  artizan,  the  manufacturer.,  merchant 
or  agriculturist,  it  offers  the  most  unbounded  in- 
ducements. In  staples  inexhaustible,  in  mechani- 
cal power  efficient,  in  means  of  transportation 
unexceptionable,  in  matter  and  mind  not  sur- 
passed, the  prospects  of  the  American  Union  are 
pre-eminently  brilliant.  The  commerce,  the  in- 
ternal trade,  mechanical  skill  and  agricultural 
industry  of  the  United  States  are  second,  indeed, 
to  those  of  no  other  nation,  except  in  the  aggre- 
gate amount  of  commercial  transactions,  in 
which  it  is  surpassed  by  Great  Britain  alone. 

The  progressive  increase  of  the  dimensions  of 
this  country  by  conquest  and  cession  has  been 
rapid.  At  the  termination  of  the  revolution,  in 
1783,  it  was  confined  to  the  territories  east  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  south  of  the  Canadas.  In 
1803  it  was  augmented  by  the  purchase  from 
France  of  Louisiana,  a  country  now  occupied 
by  the  thriving  states  of  Louisiana,  Arkansas, 
Missouri,  Iowa,  and  several  territories  extending 
over  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  square  miles. 
Florida  was  purchased  in  1819,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  Spanish  claim  to  the  "  Oregon"  was 
transferred  to  the  republic.  In  1845  Texas  vo- 
luntarily annexed  itself  to  the  Union  ;  and  by  the 
treaty  of  2d  February,  1848,  the  whole  territory 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

of  New  Mexico  and  California  were  ceded  by 
the  republic  of  Mexico. 

The  present  limits  of  the  United  States  are 
bounded  north  by  the  Canadas  and  the  49th  par- 
allel of  north  latitude ;  east  by  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  ;  south  by  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  Rio 
Grande,  and  the  Rio  Gila,  which  separates  it 
from  the  Mexican  states  of  Chihuahua,  Sonora, 
&,c.,  and  on  the  west  by  the  Pacific  Ocean.  This 
vast  country  measures  in  extreme  length  from 
east  to  west,  2,800  miles,  and  from  north  to  south, 
1,369  miles,  with  an  estimated  superficial  area 
of  about  3,200,000  square  miles,  an  extent  of 
surface  little  inferior  to  that  of  the  whole  of  Eu- 
rope, and  a  population  counting  from  21,000,000 
to  22,000,000  of  souls. 

The  United  States  comprises  three  essentially 
different  geographical  regions  : — the  slope  from 
the  Alleghany  Mountains  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean, 
which  comprises  the  oldest  settlements  ;  the  val- 
ley of  the  Mississippi,  or  great  central  plain, 
now  in  the  process  of  settlement ;  and  the  slope 
from  the  Cordilleras  of  New  Mexico  and  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  Such  are  the  great  natural  divisions. 
Usually  the  country  is  divided  into  what  are 
termed  northern  and  southern,  or  free  and  slave 
states,  in  which  the  climate  and  habits  of  the 
people  differ  materially.  It  is  chiefly,  if  not  en- 
tirely, to  the  non-slave-holding  states  that  the 
immigrants,  those  from  Great  Britain  especially, 
direct  their  attention,  because  there  they  can  en- 
joy a  strictly  healthy  climate,  and  associate  with 
neighbors  of  kindred  opinions  and  habits  of  life. 


6  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-ROOK. 

Greater  scope  is  likewise  afforded  in  these  re- 
gions for  their  industry  in  agricultural  and  me- 
chanical employments.  The  slave  states,  espe- 
cially those  in  the  extreme  south,  or  below  the 
line  of  36°  30'  north  latitude,  offer  inducements 
only  to  the  capitalist,  who  has  sufficient  to  pur- 
chase both  lands  and  slaves.  There  the  climate 
is  unsuited  to  the  European  constitution.  Neither 
are  the  soil  or  staples  of  agriculture  there  grown, 
such  as  the  European  has  been  accustomed  to. 
To  raise  cotton,  tobacco,  sugar  and  other  tropi- 
cal products,  is  the  peculiar  employment  of  the 
African,  and  could  not  be  attempted  by  those 
indigenous  to  temperate  regions. 

There  are  now  in  the  Union  thirty  separate 
and  independent  states,  and  a  number  of  terri- 
tories which  are  as  yet  but  thinly  settled.  The 
following  table  will  exhibit  the  name,  extent, 

O  '  *  ' 

population,  &/c.,  of  each,  and  the  chief  town 
or  seat  of  government : 

NAME.  EXTENT.          POPULATION.  CAPITAL. 

N.  E.  States.       Sq.  miles.    Cens.  1840.   Est.  1848. 

Maine 32.628  501.793  600,000  Augusta. 

New  Hampshire  9.411  281.574  300,000  Connor  I. 

Vermont 10,212  201.948  302.000  Montpelier. 

Massachusetts..  7,500  737.699  850,000  Boston. 

Rhode  Island...      1,340      108,830      130,000  j  ^Newport! 

Connecticut..          4,764      309,978     330,000  \  3 !CVtoi'(1  ^ 

( N.  Haven. 

Middle  States. 

New  York 46,085  2.428.921  2,780,000  Albany. 

New  Jersey....  8320      373,306      406,000  Trenton. 

Pennsylvania...  44.000  1,724,033  2,125,000  Harrisburg. 

Delaware 2.120        78,085        80.000  Dover. 

Maryland 13,950      470,019      495,000  Annapolis. 


INTRODUCTION. 


NAME. 
Southern  States. 

Virginia 

North  Carolina.. 
South  Carolina.. 

Georgia 

Florida.. 


EXTENT.         POPULATION".  CAPITAL. 

Sq.  miles.  Cens.  1840.    Est.  1848. 

64,000  1,239,797  1,270,000  Richmond. 
48,000      753,419 
28,000      594,398 
62,000      691,392 
45,000        51,177 


765,000  Raleigh. 


605,OJO  Columbia. 
800,000  Milledffeville 
75,000  Tallahassee. ' 


Western  States. 
Ohio  

39,128  ' 

L,519,467  ] 

L,850  000  Columbus 

Indiana  

37,000 

685.866 

960,000  Indianapolis 

Illinois  

52  000 

476,183 

735,000  Springfield 

Michigan  

60,000 

212,267 

370,000  Lansing 

Wisconsin  

64,000 
50,600 

30,945 
43.102 

215  000  Madison. 
130  000  Iowa  City 

Missouri  

63,000 

383,702 

600,000  Jefferson 

Kentuckv.  - 

42  .,000 

779.828 

855,000  Frankiort. 

South  Western  States. 

Tennessee 40,000 

Alabama 46,000 

Mississippi 45,760 


Louisiana. 


JO 


AikansasTf....    55,000 
Dist.  of  Columbia,     100 

Territories. 

\  Minesota 60,000 


829,210 

590,756 

375,651 

352,411 

120,000 

97.574 

43,712 


950,000 
690.000 
610.000 
470,000 
119,000 
152,400 
46.000 


Nashville. 

Montgomery. 

Jackson. 

Baton  Rouge. 

Austin. 

Little  Rock. 

WASHINGTON 


Fort  Snellin?. 
Fort  Leavenworth. 
Fort  Gibsou. 


j  Western 460,01)0  (   Inhabited  by 

Nebraska 120,000  [  Indian  Tribes. 

Indian 90,000  J  

-^    ( New  Mexico..  70,000)  80,000  Santa  Fe.      • 

J  -5  <J  California. . .  350,000  f»  70,000  Puebla  de  los  Ang-elos. 

>  "5  [  Oregon 400,000  )  20,000  Astoria. 

These  states  have  also  separate  and  distinct 
governments,  and  have  uncontrolled*surveillance 
over  all  their  own  institutions,  and  form  their  own 
laws  and  municipal  regulations.  The  whole 
states,  however,  are  bound  together  as  a  con- 
federacy, and  are  subject  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  which,  for  the  benefit  of  those 


8  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

who  are  destined  to  live  under  its  aegis,  we  give 
below,  without  reduction.  The  state  constitu- 
tions are  mostly  of  a  similar  form,  and  only  dif- 
fer from  the  confederation  in  being  integral 
republics.  The  territories  are  under  the  imme- 
diate control  of  the  President  and  Congress  of 
the  United  States. 


CONSTITUTION 

OF    THE 

UNITED    STATES. 


WE,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a 
more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic 
tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote  the 
general  welfare,  and  secure  the -"filesaing'st  vjflilicrty  to 
ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this 
Constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America. 

ARTICL^  I. 

SECTION    I. 

1.  ALL  legislative  powers  herein  granted,  shall  be  vest- 
ed in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist 
of  a  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives. 

SECTION    II. 

1.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed  of 
members,  chosen  every  second  year,  by  the  people  of  the 
several  stateslf  and  the  electors  in  each  state  shall  have  the 
qualifications  requisite  for  electors  of  the  most  numerous 
branch  of  the  state  legislature. 

2.  No  person  shall  be  a  Representative  who  shall  not 
have  attained  to  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  and  been 
seven  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  shall 
not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  that  state  in  which 
he  shall  be  chosen. 


. 


CONSTITUTION.  9 

3.  Representatives   and  direct   taxes  shall   be   appor- 
tioned among  the  several  states  which  may  be  included 
within  this  union,  according  to  their  respective  numbers, 
which  shall  be  determined  by  adding  to  the  whole  num- 
ber of  free  persons,  including  those  bound  to  service  for  a 
term  of  years,  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  three- 
fifths  of  all  other  persons.     The  actual  enumeration  shall 
be  made  within  three  years  alter  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  within  every  subse- 
quent term  of  ten  years,  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  by 
law  direct.     The  number  of  Representatives  shall  not  ex- 
ceed one  for  every  thirty  thousand,  but  each  state  shall 
have  at  least  one  Representative ;  and  until  such  enume- 
ration shall  be  made,  the  state  of  New-Hampshire  shall  be 
entitled   to   choose   three — Massachusetts   eight — Rhode 
Island  and  Providence  Plantations  one — Connecticut  five — 
New- York   six — New-Jersey   four — Pennsylvania   eight- — 
Delaware  one — Maryland  six. —  Virginiaten — North  Caro- 
lina five — South  Carolina  five — and  Georgia  three. 

4.  When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  from 
any  state,  the  executive  authority  thereof  shall  issue  writs 
of  election  to  fill  such  vacancies. 

5.  The  House  of  Representatives   shall  choose  their 
speaker  and  other  officers,  and  shall  have  the  sole  power 
of  impeachment. 

SECTION    III. 

1.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed 
of  two  Senators  from  each  state,  chosen  by  the  legisla- 
ture thereof,  for  six  years ;  and  each  Senator  shall  have 
one  vote. 

2.  Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  conse- 
quence of  the  first  election,  they  shall  be  divided,  as 
equally  as  may  be,  into  three  classes.     The  seats  of  the 
Senators  of  the  first  class,  shall  be  vacated  at  the  expira- 
tion of  the  second  year,  of  the  second  class,  at  the  ex- 
piration of  the  fourth  year,  and  of  the  third  class,  at  the 
expiration  of  the  sixth  year ;  so  that  one-third  may  be 
chosen  every  second  year ;  and  if  vacancies  happen  by 
resignation  or  otherwise,  during  the  recess  of  the  legisla- 
ture of  any  state,  the  executive  thereof  may  make  tempo- 
rary appointments,  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  legislature, 
which  shall  then  fill  such  vacancies. 


10  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

3.  No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  wlio  shall  not  have  at- 
tained to  the  age  of  thirty  years,  and  been  nine  yearn  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,   and  who  shall  not,  when 
elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  that  state  for  which  he  shall 
be  chosen.  t 

4.  The  Vice-President  of  the  United   States  shall  be 
President  of  the  Senate,  but  shall  have  no  vote,  unless 
they  be  equally  divided. 

5.  The  Senate  shall  choose  their  other  officers,  and  also 
a  President  pro-tempore,  in  the  absence  of  the  Vice-Presi- 
deut,  or  when  he  shall  exercise  the  office  of  President  of 
the  United  States. 

6.  The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all  im- 
peachments.    When  sitting  for  that  purpose,  they  shall 
be  on  oath  or  allirmation.     When  the  President  of  the 
United  States  is  tried,  the  Chief  Justice  shall  preside ;  and 
no  person  shall  be  convicted  without  the  concurrence  of 
two-thirds  of  the  members  present. 

7.  Judgment,  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall  not  ex- 
tend further  than  to  removal  from  office,  and  disqualifica- 
tion to  hold  and  enjoy  any  office  of  honor,  trust  or  profit, 
under  the  United  States ;  but  the  party  convicted  shall 
nevertheless  be  liable  and   subject  to  indictment,  trial, 
judgment  and  punishment,  according  to  law. 

SECTION    IV. 

1.  The  times,  places  and  manner  of  holding  elections 
for  Senators  and  Representatives,  shall  be  prescribed  in 
each  state  by  the  legislature  thereof;  but  the  Congress 
may,  at  any  time,  by  law,  make  or  alter  such  regulations, 
except  as  to  the  places  of  choosing  Senators. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every 
year,  and  such  meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in 
December    unless  they  shall  by  law  appoint  a  different 
day. 

SECTION  v. 

1.  Each  House  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  elections,  re- 
turns and  qualifications  of  its  <rwn  members;  and  a  ma- 
jority of  each  shall  constitute  a  quorum  to  do  busiuesss ; 
but  a  smaller  number  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and 
may  be  authorized  to  compel  the  attendance  of  absent 
members,  in  such  manner  and  under  such  penalties  as 
each  House  may  provide. 


CONSTITUTION,  11 

2.  Each  House  may  determine  the  rules  of  its  proceed- 
ings, punish  its  members  for  disorderly  behavior,  and  with 
the  concurrence  of  two-thirds,  expel  a  member. 

3.  Each  House  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings, 
and  from  time  to  time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such 
parts  as  may»in  their  judgment  require  secrecy;  and  the 
yeas  and  nays  of  the  members  of  either  House  on  any 
question,  shall,  at  the  desire  of  one-filth  of  those  present, 
be  entered  on  the  journal. 

4.  Neither    House,    during    the   session  of   Congress, 
shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more 
than  three  days,  nor  to  any  other  place  than  that  in  which 
the  two  Houses  shall  be  sitting. 

SECTION  vr. 

1.  The  Senators  and   Representatives   shall  receive  a 
compensation  for  their  services,  to  be  ascertained  by  law, 
and  paid  out  of  the  treasury  of  the  United  States.     They 
islmll,  in  all  cases,  except  treason,  felony  and  breach  of 
the  peace,  be  privileged  from  arrest  during  their  attend- 
ance at  the  session  of  their  respective  Houses,  and  in  going 
to  and  returning  from  the  same  ;  and  for  any  speech  or 
debate  in  either  House,  they  shall  not  be  questioned  in  any 
other  place. 

2.  No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  time 
for  which  he  was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office 
under  the  authority  of  the  United  States  which  shall  have 
been  created,  or  the  emoluments  whereof  shall  have  been 
increased  during  such  time  ;  and  no  person  holding  any 
office  under  the  United  States,  shall  be  a  member  of  either 
House  during  his  continuance  in  office. 

SECTION'  VII. 

1.  All  bills  for  raising  revenue,  shall  originate  in  the 
House  of  Representatives;  but  the  Senate  may  propose 
or  concur  with  amendments  as  on  other  bills. 

2.  Every  bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of 
Representatives  and  the  Senate,  shall,  before  it  become  a 
law,  be  presented  to  the  President  of  the  United  States; 
if  he  approve,  he  shall  sign  it ;  but  if  not,  he  shall  return 
it,  with  his  objections,  to  that  House  in  which   it  shall 
have  originated,  who  shall  enter  the  objections  at  large  on 
their  journal,  and  proceed  to  re-consider  it.     If,  after  such 


12  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

re-consideration,  two-thirds  of  that  House  shall  agree  to 
pass  the  bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  objections, 
to  the  other  Hoiise,  by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  re-con- 
sidered, and  if  approved  by  two-thirds  of  that  House,  it 
shall  become  a  law.  But  in  all  such  cases,  the  votes  of 
both  houses  shall  be  determined  Joy  yeas  and  nays ;  and 
the  names  of  the  persons  voting  for  and  against  the  bill, 
shall  be  entered  on  the  journal  of  each  House  respectively. 
If  any  bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  President  within 
ten  days  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it  shall  have  been  pre- 
sented to  him,  the  same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like  manner  as 
if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  Congress  by  their  adjourn- 
ment prevent  its  return,  in  which  case  it  shall  not  be  a 
law. 

3.  Every  order,  resolution  or  vote,  to  which  the  con- 
currence of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  may 
be  necessary  (except  on  a  question  of  .adjournment,)  shall 
be  presented  to  the  President  of  the  United  States ;  and 
before  the  same  shaft  take  effect,  shall  be  approved  by 
him,  or  being  disapproved  by  him,  shall  be  re-passed  by 
two-thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives, 
according  to  the  rules  and  limitations  prescribed  in  the 
case  of  a  bill. 


SECTION   VIII. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power— 

1.  To  lay  and  collect   taxes,   duties,  imposts  and  ex- 
cises ;  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  de- 
fence and  general  welfare  of  the   United  States ;  but  all 
duties,  imposts  and  excises,  shall  be  uniform  throughout 
the  United  States : 

2.  To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States  : 

3.  To   regulate   commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and 
among  the  several  states,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes : 

4.  To  establish  an  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and 
uniform  laws  on  the  subject  of  bankruptcies,  throughout 
the  United  States : 

5.  To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of 
foreign  coin,  and  fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures : 

6.  To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the 
securities  and  current  coin  of  the  United  States : 

7.  To  establish  post-offices  and  post-roads  : 

8.  To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts., 


CONSTITUTION.  13 

by  securing,  for  limited  times,  to  authors  and  inventors, 
the  exclusive  right  to  their  respective  writings  and  dis- 
co veriest 

9.  To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  supreme  court : 

10.  To  define  aud  punish  piracies  aud  felonies  com- 
mitted on  the  high  seas,  and  offences  against  the  law  of 
nations : 

11.  To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and    re- 
prisal, and  make  rules  concerning  captures  on  laud  or 
water : 

12.  To  raise  and  support  armies;  but  no  appropriations 
of  money  to  that  use  shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two 
years : 

13.  To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy  : 

14.  To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation 
of  the  land  and  naval  forces  : 

15.  To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute 
the  laws  of   the  Union,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel 
invasions : 

16.  To  provide  for  organizing,  arming  and  disciplining 
the  militia,  and  for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  maybe 
employed  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  reserving  to 
the  states  respectively,  the  appointment  of  the  officers, 
and  the  authority  of  training  the  militia  according  to  the 
discipline  prescribed  by  Congress : 

17.  To  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  what- 
soever, over  such  district,  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square) 
as  may,  by  cession  of  particular  states,  and  the  acceptance 
of  Congress,  become  the  seat  of  the   government  of  the 
United  States;  aud  to   exercise  like  authority  over  all 
places  purchased  by  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the 
state  iu  which  the  same  shall  be,  for  the  erection  of  forts, 
magazines,  arsenals,  dock  yards  and  other  needful  build- 
ings : — And, 

18.  To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and 
proper,  for  carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers, 
and  all  other  powers,  vested  by  this  Constitution,  in  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  department  or 
officer  thereof. 

SECTION   IX. 

1.   The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any 
of  the  states  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit, 

"2 


14  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  year 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight :  but  a  tax  or  duty 
may  be  imposed  on  such  importation,  not  exceeding  ten 
dollars  for  each  person. 

2.  The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  hapeas  corpus  shall  not 
be  suspended,  unless  when  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  inva- 
sion the  public  safety  may  require  it. 

3.  No  bill  of  attainder,  or  ex  post  facto  law,  shall  be 
passed. 

4.  No  capitation  or  other  direct  tax  shall  be  laid,  un- 
less in  proportion  to  the  census  or  enumeration  herein  be- 
fore directed  to  be  taken. 

5.  No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported 
from  any  state. 

6.  No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation  of 
commerce  or  revenue  to  the  ports  of  one  state  over  those 
of  another ;  nor  shall  vessels  bound  to  or  from  one  state, 
be  obliged  to  enter,  clear  or  pay  duties  in  another. 

7.  No  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury,  but  in 
consequence  of  appropriations  made  by  law ;  and  a  re- 
gular statement  and  account  of  the  receipts  and  expen- 
ditures of  all  public  money  shall  be  published  from  time 
to  time. 

8.  No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United 
States  ;  and  no  person  holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust 
under  them,  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress, 
accept  of  any  present,  emolument,  office  or  title  of  any 
kind  whatever,  from  any  king,  prince  or  foreign  state. 

SECTION  x. 

1.  No  state  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance  or  con- 
federation;   grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal;    coin 
money  ;  emit  bills  of  credit ;  make  anything  but  gold  and 
silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts ;  pass  any  bill  of 
attainder,  ex  post  facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obliga- 
tion of  contracts ;  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility. 

2.  No  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress, 
lay  any  imposts  or  duties  on  imports  or  exports,  except 
what  may  be  absolutely  necessary  for  executing  its  in- 
spection laws ;  and  the  net  produce  of  all  duties  and  im- 
posts laid  by  any  state  on  imports  or  exports,  shall  be  for 
the  use  of  the  treasury  of  the  United  States ;  and  all  such 
laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  revision  and  control  of  the 
Congress. 


CONSTITUTION.  15 

3.  No  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  lay 
any  duty  of  tonnage,  keep  troops  or  ships  of  war  in  time 
of  peace,  enter  into  any  agreement  or  compact  with 
another  state,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or  engage  in  a 
war,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent  danger 
as  will  not  admit  of  delay. 


ARTICLE  II. 

SECTION   I. 

1.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President 
of  the  United  States  of  America.     He  shall  hold  his  office 
during  the  term  of  four  years,  and,  together  with  the 
Vice-President,  chosen  for  the  same  term,  be  elected  as 
follows : 

2.  Each    state  shall  appoint,  in  such   manner  as  the 
legislature  thereof  may  direct,  a  number  of  electors  equal 
to  the  whole  number  of  Senators  and  Representatives  to 
\vhich  the  state  may  be  entitled  in  the  Congress ;  but  no 
Senator  or  Representative,  or  person  holding  an  office  of 
trust  or  profit  under  the  United  States,  shall  be  appointed 
an  elector. 

[  *  3.  The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  states, 
and  vote  by  ballot,  for  two  persons,  of  whom  one  at  least 
shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  state  with  them- 
selves. And  they  shall  make  a  list  of  all  the  persons  vo- 
ted for,  and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  eacli ;  which  list 
they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat 
of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  directed  to  the 
President  of  the  Senate.  The  President  of  the  Senate 
shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall 
then  be  counted.  The  person  having  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  votes  shall  be  the  President,  i?  such  number  be  a 
majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed ;  and 
if  there  be  more  than  one  who  have  such  majority,  and 
have  an  equal  number  of  votes,  then  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives shall  immediately  choose,  by  ballot,  one  of 
them  for  President ;  and  if  no  person  have  a  majority, 
then  from  the  five  highest  on  the  list,  the  said  House 

*  This  clause  is  annulled  by  Article  12  of  Amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution. (See  page  25.) 


16  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

shall,  in  like  manner,  choose  the  President.  But  in 
choosing  the  President,  the  votes  shall  be  taken  by  states, 
the  representation  from  each  state  having  one  vote ;  a 
quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  mem- 
bers from  two-thirds  of  the  states,  and  a  majority  of  all 
the  states  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  In  every  case, 
after  the  choice  of  the  President,  the  person  having  the 
greatest  number  of  votes  of  the  electors,  shall  be  the  Vice- 
president.  But  if  there  should  remain  two  or  more  who 
have  equal  votes,  the  Senate  shall  choose  from  them  by 
ballot  the  Vice-President.  ] 

4.  The  Congress  may  determine  the  time  of  choosing 
the  electors,  and  the  day  on  which  they  shall  give  then- 
votes  ;  which  day  shall  be  the  same  throughout  the  United 
States. 

5.  No  person,  except  a  natural  born  citizen,  or  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this 
constitution,  shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  President ; 
neither  shall  any  person  be  eligible  to  that  office,  who 
shall  not  have  attained  to  the  age  of  thirty-five  years,  and 
been  fourteen  years  a  resident  within  the  United  States. 

6.  In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  President  from  office, 
or  of  his  death,  resignation  or  inability  to  discharge  the 
powers  and  duties  of  the  said  office,  the  same  shall  de- 
volve on  the  Vice-President ;  and  the  Congress  may,  by 
law,  provide  for  the  case  of  removal,  death,  resignation, 
or  inability,  both  of  the  President  and  Vice-President,  de- 
claring what  officer  shall  then  act  as  President,  and  such 
officer  shall   act  accordingly,  until  the  disability  be  re- 
moved, or  a  President  shall  be  elected. 

7.  The  President  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his 
services  a  compensation,  which  shall  neither  be  increased 
nor  diminished  during  the  period  for  which  he  shall  have 
been  elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive  within  that  period 
any  other  emolument  from  the  United  States,  or  any  of 
them. 

8.  Before  he  enter  on  the  execution  of  his  office,  he 
shall  take  the  following  oath  or  affirmation  : 

"  I  do  solemnly  swear,  (or  affirm,)  that  I  will  faithfully 
execute  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
will,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  preserve,  protect  and  de- 
fend the  constitution  of  the  United  States." 


CONSTITUTION.  17 

SECTION  II. 

1.  The  President  shall  be  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  militia  of 
the  several  states,  when  called  into  the  actual  service  of 
the  United  States ;  he  may  require  the  opinion,  in  writing, 
ot  the  principal  officers  in  each  of  the  executive  depart- 
ments, upon  any  subject  relating  to  the  duties  of  the  re- 
spective offices;  and  he  shall  have  power  to  grant  re- 
prieves and  pardons  for  offences  against  the  United  States, 
except  in  cases  of  impeachment. 

2.  He  shall  have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  Senate,  to  make  treaties,  provided  two- 
thirds  of  the  Senators  present  concur;  and  he  shall  nominate, 
and  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  shall 
appoint  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls, 
judges  of  the  supreme  court,  and  all  other  officers  of  the 
United  States,  whose  appointments  are  not  herein  other- 
wise provided  for,  and  which  shall  be  established  by  law ; 
but  the  Congress  may,  by  law,  vest  the  appointment  of 
such  inferior  officers  as  they  think  proper,  in  the  Presi- 
dent alone,  in  the  courts  of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  de- 
partments. 

3.  The  President  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all  va- 
cancies that  may  happen  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate, 
by  granting  commissions,  which  shall  expire  at  the  end  of 
their  next  session. 

SECTION  in. 

1.  He  shall,  from  time  to  time,  give  to  the  Congress  in- 
formation of  the  state  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to 
their  consideration,  such  measures  as  he  shall  judge  ne- 
cessary and  expedient.  He  may,  on  extraordinary  occa- 
sions, convene  both  Houses,  or  either  of  them,  and  in  case 
of  disagreement  between  them,  with  respect  to  the  tirno 
of  adjournment,  he  may  adjourn  them  to  such  time  as  he 
shall  think  proper.  He  shall  receive  ambassadors  and 
other  public  ministers  :  he  shall  take  care  that  the  laws 
be  faithfully  executed,  and  shall  commission  all  the  officers 
of  the  United  States. 

SECTION   IV. 

•  1.  The  President,  Vice-President,  and  all  civil  officers 
of  the  United  States,  shall  be  removed  from  office  on  im- 
peachment for,  and  conviction  of,  treason,  bribery,  or 
other  hiffh  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 

2* 


18  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 


ARTICLEIII.  „ 

SECTION    1. 

1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
vested  in  onje  supreme  court,  and  iu  such  inferior  courts 
.as  the  Congress  may,  from  time  to  time,  ordain  and  es- 
tablish. The.  judges,  both  of  the  supreme  and  inferior 
courts,  shall  hold  their  offices  during  good  behavior,  and 
shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  their  services  a  compen- 
sation, which  shall  not  be  diminished  during  theft1  con- 
tinuance in  office. 

SECTION    II. 

1.  The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases  in  law 
and  equity,  arising  under  this  constitution,  the  laws  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  treaties  made,  or  which  shall 
be  made  under  their  authority  ; — to  all  cases  affecting  am- 
bassadors, other   public   ministers   and   consuls ; — to  all 
cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime  jurisdiction; — to  contro- 
versies to  which  the  United  States  shall  be  a  party ; — to 
controversies  between  two  or  more  states ; — between  a 
state  and  citizens  of  another  state ; — between  citizens  of 
different  states; — between  citizens  of  the  same  state  claim 
ing  lands  under  the  grants  of  different  states,  and  between 
a  state  or  the  citizens  thereof,  and  foreign  states,  citizens 
or  subjects. 

2.  In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  min- 
isters and  consuls,  and  those  in  which  a  state  shall  be 
party,  the  supreme  court  shall  have  original  jurisdiction. 
In  all  the  other  cases  before  mentioned,   the   supreme 
court  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction,  both  as  to  law  and 
fact,  with  such  exceptions,  and  under  such  regulations  as 
the  Congress  shall  make. 

3.  The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeach- 
ment, shall  be  by  jury  ;  and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the 
state  where  the  said  crimes  shall  have  been  committed  ; 
but  when  not  committed  within  any  state,  the  trial  shall 
be  at  such  place  or  places  as  the  Congress  may  by  law 
have  directed. 

SECTION   III. 

1.  Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist  only* 
in  levying  war  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  ene- 


CONSTITUTION.  39 

mies,  giving  them  aid  and  comfort.  No  person  shall  be 
convicted  of  treason,  unless  on  the  testimony  of  two  wit- 
nesses to  the  same  overt  act,  or  on  confession  in  open  court. 
2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  the  pun- 
ishment of  treason,  but  no  attainder  of  treason,  shall  work 
corruption  of  blood,  or  forfeiture,  except  during  the  life 
of  the  person  attainted. 


ARTICLE    IV. 


SECTION   I. 

1.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  state,  to 
the  public  acts,  records  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every 
other  state.  And  the  Congress  may,  by  general  laws,  pre- 
scribe the  manner  in  which  such  acts,  records  and  pro- 
ceedings, shall  be  proved,  and  the  effect  thereof. 

SECTION    II. 

1.  The  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  entitled  to  all 
privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  states. 

2.  A  person  charged  in  any  state  with  treason,  felony 
or  other  crime,  who  shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found 
in  another  state,  shall,  on  demand  of  the  executive  autho- 
rity of  the  state  from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up  to 
be  removed  to  the  state  having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

3.  No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state,  under 
the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  conse- 
quence of  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged 
from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on 
claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be 
due. 

SECTION   III. 

1.  New  states  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into 
this  Union ;   but  no  new  state  shall  be  formed  or  erected 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  state ;  nor  any  state 
be  formed  by  the  junction  of  two  or  more  states,  or  parts 
of  states,  without  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the 
Btates  concerned,  as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 

2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and 
make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations,  respecting  the  ter- 
ritory or  other  property  belonging  to  the  United  States; 
and  nothing  in  this  constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to 
prejudice  any  claims  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  parti- 
cular state. 


20  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

SECTION  IV. 

1.  Tlfe  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  state  in 
thisUifion,  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  shall 
protect  each  of  them  against  invasion ;  and  on  application 
of  the  legislature,  or  of  the  executive  ( when  the  legisla- 
ture cannot  be  convened,)  against  domestic  violence. 


th  Hou 


ARTICLE    V. 

1.  The  Congress,  whenever  two-thirds  of  both  Houses 
shall  deem  it  necessary,  shall  propose  amendments  to  this 
constitution,  or  on  the  application  of  the  legislatures  of 
two-thirds  of  the  several  states,  shall  call  a  convention  for 
proposing  amendments,  which,  in  either  case,  shall  be 
valid  to  the  intents  and  purposes,  as  part  of  this  constitu- 
tion, when  ratified  by  the  legislatures  of  three-fourths  of 
the  several  states,  or  by  conventions  in  three-fourths 
thereof,  as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  of  ratification  may 
be  proposed  by  the  Congress ;  provided,  that  no  amend- 
ment which  may  be  made  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  eight,  shall  in  any  manner  affect  the 
first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the  ninth  section  of  the  first  ar- 
ticle ;  and  that  710  state,  without  its  consent,  shall  be  de- 
prived of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the  Senate. 


ARTICLE    VI. 

1.  All  debts  contracted,  and  engagements  entered  into, 
before  the  adoption  of  this  constitution,  shall  be  as  valid 
against  the  United  States,  under  this  constitution,  as  under 
the  confederation. 

2.  This  constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
which  shall  be  mude  in  pursuance  thereof;  and  all  treaties 
made,  or  which  shall  be  made  under  the  authority  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land  ;  and 
the  judges  in  every  state  shall  be  bound  thereby ;   any- 
thing in  the  constitution  or  laws  of  any  state  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding. 

3.  The  Senators  and  Representatives  before  mentioned, 
and  the  members  of  the  several  state  legislatures,  and  all 
executive  and  judicial  officers,  both  of  the  United  States 


CONSTITUTION. 


and  of  the  several  states,  shall  be  bound  by  oath  or  af- 
firmation, to  support  this  constitution ;  but  no  religious 
test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office 
or  public  trust  under  the  United  States. 

ARTIC  LE    VII. 

1.  The  ratification  of  the  convention  of  nine  states, 
shall  be  sufficient  for  the  establishment  of  this  constitution 
between  the  states  so  ratifying  the  same. 

Done  in  convention,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
states  present,  the  seventeenth  day  of  September,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
eighty-seven,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  the  twelfth.  In  witness  whereof, 
we  have  hereunto  subscribed  our  names. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  President, 

and  Deputy  from  Virginia. 

Delaware. 
George  Head, 
Gunning  Bedford,  Jun. 
John  Dickinson, 
Richard  Bassett 
Jacob  Broom. 


New-Hampshire. 
John  Langdon, 
Nicholas  Oilman, 

Massachusetts. 
Nathaniel  Gorham, 


Rufus  King. 

Connecticut. 

William  Samuel  Johnson, 
Roger  Sherman. 

New-  York. 
Alexander  Hamilton. 

New-Jersey. 
William  Livingston, 
David  Brearley, 
William  Paterson, 
Jonathan  Dayton. 

Pennsylvania. 
Benjamin  Franklin, 
Thomas  Mifflin, 
Robert  Morris, 
George  Clymer, 
Thomas  Fitzshnons, 
Jared  Ingersoll, 
James  Wilson, 
Gouverneur  Morris. 


Maryland. 
James  M'  Henry, 
Daniel  of  St.  Tho.  Jenifer, 
Daniel  Carroll. 

Virginia. 
John  Blair, 
James  Madison  Jun. 

North  Carolina. 
William  Blount, 
Richard  Dobbs  Spaight, 
Hugh  Williamson. 

South  Carolina. 
John  Rutledge, 
Charles  C.  Finckney, 
Charles  Pinckney, 
Fierce  Butler. 

Georgia. 
William  Few, 
Abraham  Baldwin. 


22  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

IN    CONVENTION. 

I 

Monday,  17th  September,  1787. 

Resolved,  That  the  preceding  constitution  be  laid  be- 
fore the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  and  that  it 
is  the  opinion  of  this  convention,  that  it  should  afterwards 
be  submitted  to,a  convention  of  delegates  chosen  in  each 
state  by  the  people  thereof,  under  the  recommendation  of 
its  legislature,  for  their  assent  and  ratification ;  and  that 
each  convention  assenting  to,  and  ratifying  the  same, 
should  give  notice  thereof  to  the  United  States  in  Con- 
gi'ess  assembled. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  convention,  that 
as  soon  as  the  convention  of  nine  states  shall  have  ratified 
this  constitution,  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled, 
should  fix  a  clay  on  which  electors  should  be  appointed 
by  the  states  which  shall  have  ratified  the  same,  and  a 
day  on  which  the  electors  should  assemble  to  vote  for  the 
President,  and  the  time  and  place  for  commencing  pro- 
ceedings under  this  constitution.  That  after  such  publi- 
cation, the  electors  should  be  appointed,  and  the  Senators 
and  Representatives  elected.  That  the  electors  should 
meet  on  the  day  fixed  for  the  election  of  the  President, 
and  should  transmit  their  votes,  certified,  signed,  sealed 
and  directed,  as  the  constitution  requires,  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled  ;  that  the 
Senators  and  Representatives  should  convene  at  the  time 
and  place  assigned ;  that  the  Senators  should  appoint  a 
President  of  the  Senate,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  receiving, 
opening  and  counting  the  votes  for  President ;  and,  that 
after  he  shall  be  chosen,  the  Congress,  together  with  the 
President,  should,  without  delay,  proceed  to  execute  this 
constitution. 

By  the  unanimous  order  of  the  convention. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  President. 


IN     CONVENTION. 

September  17th,  1787. 

SIR: — 1.  WE  have  now  the  honor  to  submit  to  the  con 
sideration  of  the   United  States  in  Congress  assembled, 
that  constitution  which   has    appeared  to  us  the  most 
advisable. 


CONSTITUTION.  23 

2.  The  friends  of  our  country  have  long  seen  and  de- 
sired that  the  power  of  making  war,  peace  and  treaties ; 
that  of  levying  money  and  regulating  commerce,  and  the 
correspondent  executive  and  judicial  authorities,  should 
be  fully  and  effectually  vested  in  the  general  government 
of  the  Union  ;  but  the  impropriety  of  delegating  such  ex- 
tensive trust  to  one  body  of  men,  is  evident ;  hence  results 
the  necessity  of  a  different  organization. 

3.  It  is  obviously  impracticable  in  the  federal  govern- 
ment of  these  states,  to  secure  all  rights  of  independent 
sovereignty  to  each,  and  yet  provide  for  the  interest  and 
safety  of  all.     Individuals  entering  into  society,  must  give 
up  a  share  of  liberty  to  preserve  the  rest.     The  magni- 
tude of  the  sacrifice  must  depend  as  well  on  situation  and 
circumstance,  as  on  the  object  to  be  obtained.     It  is  at 
all  times  difficult  to  draw  with  precision  the  line  between 
those  rights  which  must  be  surrendered,  and  those  which 
may  be  reserved;  and  on  the  present  occasion,  this  diffi- 
culty was  increased   by  a  difference  among  the  several 
states  as  to  their  situation,  extent,  habits  and  particular 
interests. 

4.  In  all  our  deliberations  on  this  subject,  we  kept  steadily 
in  our  view  that  which  appears  to  us  the  greatest  inter- 
est of  every  true  American,  the  consolidation  of  our  Union, 
in  which  is  involved  our  prosperity,  felicity,  safety,  per- 
haps our  national  existence.     This  important  considera- 
tion, seriously  and  deeply  impressed  on  our  minds,  led 
each  state  in  the  convention  to  be  less  rigid  on  points  of 
inferior  magnitude,  than  might  have  been  otherwise  ex- 
pected ;  and  thus  the  constitution,  which  we  now  present, 
is  the  result  of  a  spirit  of  amity,  and  of  that  mutual  de- 
ference   and   concession,  which  the    peculiarity  of  our 
political  situation  rendered  indispensable. 

5.  That  it  will  meet  the  full  and  entire  appi'obation  of 
every  state,  is  not,  perhaps,  to  be  expected;  but  each 
will  doubtless  consider,  that  had  her  interest  alone  been 
consulted,  the  consequence  might  have  been  particularly 
disagreeable  or  injurious  to  others  ;  that  it  is  liable  to  as 
few  exceptions  as  could  reasonably  have  been  expected, 
we  hope  and  believe ;  that  it  may  promote  the  lasting 
welfare  of  that  country  so  dear  to  us  all,  and  secure  her 
freedom  and  happiness,  is  our  most  ardent  wish.     With 


24  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

great  respect,  we  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  excel- 
lency's most  obedient  and  humble  servants. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  President. 
By  the  unanimous  order  of  the  convention. 
His  Excellency,  the  Presi- 
dent of  Congress. 


AMENDMENTS  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

ART.  1.  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  es- 
tablishment of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise 
thereof;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the 
press ;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble 
and  to  petition  the  government  for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

ART.  2.  A  well  regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the 
security  of  a  free  state,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep 
and  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed. 

ART.  3.  No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace,  be  quartered 
in  any  house  without  the  consent  of  the  owner,  nor  in 
time  of  war,  but  in  a  manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

ART.  4.  The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  then- 
persons,  houses,  papers  and  effects,  against  unreasonable 
searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  violated ;  and  no  war- 
rants shall  issue,  but  upon  probable  cause,  supported  by 
oath  or  affirmation,  and  particularly  describing  the  place 
to  be  searched,  and  the  persons  or  things  to  be  seized. 

ART.  5.  No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital, 
or  otherwise  infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or 
indictment  of  a  grand  jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the 
land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the  militia,  when  in  actual  ser- 
vice, in  time  of  war  or  public  danger  ;  nor  shall  any  per- 
son be  subject  for  the  same  offence,  to  be  twice  put  in 
jeopardy  of  life  or  limb ;  nor  shall  be  compelled,  in  any 
criminal  case,  to  be  witness  against  himself,  nor  be  de- 
prived of  life,  liberty  or  property,  without  the  due  pro- 
cess of  law  ;  nor  shall  private  property  be  taken  for  pub- 
lic use  without  just  compensation. 

ART.  6.  In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall 
enjoy  the  right  to  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impar- 
tial jury  of  the  state  and  district  wherein  the  crime  shall 


CONSTITUTION,  25 

have  been  committed,  which  district  shall  have  been  pre- 
viously ascertained  by  law.  and  to  be  informed  of  the  na- 
ture and  cause  of  the  accusation  ;  to  be  confronted  with 
the  witnesses  against  him ;  to  have  compulsory  process  for 
obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor,  and  to  have  the  assistance 
of  counsel  for  his  defence. 

ART.  7.  In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in 
controversy  shall  exceed  twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial 
by  jury  shall  be  preserved;  and  no  fact,  tried  by  a  jury, 
shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in  any  court  of  the  United 
States,  than  according  to  the  rules  of  the  common  law. 

ART.  8.  Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  ex- 
cessive fines  imposed,  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments 
inflicted. 

ART.  9.  The  enumeration  in  the  constitution,  of  certain 
rights,  shall  not  be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others 
retained  by  the  people. 

ART.  10.  The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United 
States  by  the  constitution,  nor  prohibited  to  it  by  the 
states,  are  reserved  to  the  states  respectively,  or  to  the 
people. 

ART.  11.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall 
not  be  construed  to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity, 
commenced  or  prosecuted  against  one  of  the  United  States 
by  citizens  of  another  state,  or  by  citizens  or  subjects  of 
any  foreign  state 

ART.  12.  1.  The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective 
states,  and  vote  by  ballot,  for  President  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent, one  of  whom,  at  least,  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of 
the  same  state  with  themselves  ;  they  shall  name  in  their 
ballots  the  persons  voted  for  as  President,  and  in  distinct 
ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  Vice-President,  and  they 
shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Presi- 
dent, and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Vice-President,  and 
of  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which  lists  they  shall  sign 
and  certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of 
the  Senate.  The  President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the 
presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives, 
open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  theo  be 

3 


26  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-COOK. 

counted ;  the  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes 
for  President,  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  be 
a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed ; 
and  if  no  person  have  such  majority,  then  from  the  per- 
sons having  the  highest  numbers,  not  exceeding  three,  on 
the  list  of  those  voted  for  as  President,  the  House  of  Re- 
presentatives shall  choose  immediately,  by  ballot,  the  Pre- 
sident. But  in  choosing  the  President,  the  votes  shall  be 
taken  by  states,  the  representation  from  each  state  having 
one  vote ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a 
member  or  members  from  two-thirds  of  the  states,  and  a 
majority  of  all  the  states  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 
And  if  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  not  choose  a 
President,  whenever  the  right  of  choice  shall  devolve 
upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of  March  next  follow- 
ing, then  the  Vice- President  shall  act  as  President,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  death  or  other  constitutional  disability  of 
the  President. 

2.  The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as 
Vice-President,  shall  be  the  Vice- President,  if  such  num- 
ber be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  ap- 
pointed ;  and  if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then  from  the 
two  highest  numbers  on  the  list,  the  Senate  shall  choose 
the  Vice-President ;  a  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall  con- 
sist of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  Senators,  and  a 
majority  of  the  number  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 

3.  But  no  person  constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office 
of  President,  shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States. 

The  ten  first  amendments  were  proposed,  by  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress,  to  the  several  states,  at  the  first  ses- 
sion of  the  first  Congress. 

The  eleventh  amendment  was  proposed  by  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress  to  the  several  states,  at  the  first  ses- 
sion of  the  third  Congress. 

The  twelfth  amendment  was  proposed,  by  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress,  to  the  several  states,  at  the  first  ses- 
sion of  the  eighth  Congress. 


THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  ST.  LAWRENCE.  27 

We  will  now  proceed  to  describe  those  portions 
of  the  Union  into  which  the  tide  of  emigration 

O 

is  pouring,  first  giving  a  general  view  of  the  great 
valleys,  and  then  separate  accounts  of  the  States 
referred  to. 

The  country  delineated  by  this  work  is  occu- 
pied by  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Michigan,  Missouri,  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  the 
Minesota  and  other  Territories,  known  as  the 
north-western  States  and  Territories,  which  are 
embraced  in  the  upper  sections  of  the  two  great 
Valleys  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Mississippi. 

The  St.  Lawrence  Valley  or  Basin,  contains 
the  five  great  western  lakes,  and  bounds  the 
greater  part  of  the  northern  frontier  of  the  United 
States.  Beginning  at  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
it  extends  nearly  to  the  sources  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, a  distance  of  about  1800  miles ;  and  is 
computed  to  contain  511,930  square  miles  of 
surface  ;  72,930  of  which  are  covered  with  water. 
It  may  be  divided  into  three  great,  but  unequal 
parts  ;  the  upper,  middle,  and  lower.  The  first, 
in  form  of  a  rhomb,  has  an  area  of  about  90,000 
square  miles,  one-third  of  which  is  occupied  by 
Lake  Superior,  its  length  is  about  500  miles, 
with  a  mean  breadth  of  80,  mean  depth  900  feet, 
elevated  624  feet  above  the  Ocean  level.  Into 
this  reservoir  are  poured  upwards  of  50  rivers, 
none  of  which  are  of  much  importance.  Though 
individually  small,  the  quantity  of  water  supplied 
collectively  by  the  numerous  tributaries  of  Lake 
Superior,  must  be  very  great.  The  whole  mass, 
composing  a  large  river,  is  forced  through  the 
Straits  of  St.  Mary,  a  distance  of  60  miles,  into 


28  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

Lake  Huron.  Sault  St.  Marie,  a  fall  of  22  ft. 
10  in.  in  half  a  mile,  is  the  largest  of  three  rapids 
which  obstruct  navigation. 

The  middle  division  forms  a  quadrangle  of 
about  160,000  square  miles,  having  the  three 
great  central  lakes,  Michigan,  Huron  and  Erie 
in  its  lowest  depressions.  Lake  Michigan  is  a 
great  chasm  of  800  feet  in  depth  below  its  sur- 
face, about  300  miles  long  by  65  mean  width, 
and  elevated  579  feet  above  tide  levd.  The 
streams  which  fall  into  it  are  generally  small,  but 
very  numerous.  Lake  Michigan  communicates 
with  Lake  Huron  by  the  Straits  of  Mackinac. 
Lake  Huron  is  an  expanded  triangular  body  of 
water,  and  is  divided  into  two  unequal  parts  by 
the  Manitoulin  islands,  and  a  peninsular  pro- 
jecting from  its  south-east  side.  Between  the 
north-eastern  shore  and  the  Manitoulin  group, 
extends  a  strait  of  200  miles  in  length,  with  a 
mean  width  of  about  30  miles.  The  mean 
breadth  of  the  lake  is  95  miles,  and  occupies  an 
area  of  19,000  square  miles,  receiving  the  vast 
discharge  of  Lake  Superior  and  Michigan  in  its 
north-western  angle,  Lake  Nipissing  on  its  north- 
eastern, and  several  minor  streams.  These  accu- 
mulated waters  are  discharged  from  its  southern 
extremity  by  the  Strait  of  St.  Clair,  a  distance  of 
35  miles,  with  a  rapid  current,  into  Lake  St. 
Clair.  Lake  St.  Clair  is  a  small,  shallow,  circu- 
lar expansion  of  about  20  miles  in  diameter.  It 
empties  into  Lake  Erie  by  the  Detroit  Strait. 
Lake  Erie  forms  the  most  southern  part  of  the 
middle  basin  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  It  is  eleva- 
ted 560  feet  above  tide  level,  and  lies  19  ft.  3  in 


THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  29 

below  the  level  of  Lake  Huron.  Its  form  is  ellip- 
tical, but  much  elongated,  280  miles  in  length, 
and  but  little  exceeding  50  miles  in  breadth  at 
its  widest  parts,  average  depth  200  feet.  This 
congregated  mass  of  waters  from  the  upper  lakes, 
and  the  many  tributaries  of  Erie,  in  their  course 
through  the  Niagara  Strait  or  River,  are  precipi- 
tated down  the  Great  Falls  of  Niagara,  into  the 
lower  basin  of  the  St.  Lawrence  ;  when,  after  a 
distance  of  14  miles  from  the  falls,  they  are  again 
expanded  and  form  Lake  Ontario,  whose  mean 
length  is  180  miles,  width  30.  The  St.  Law- 
rence River,  after  a  course  of  692  miles,  connects 
it  with  the  Atlantic,  and  is  the  second  river  in 
magnitude  in  America ;  it  is  100  miles  wide  at 
its  mouth,  and  navigable  for  shios  of  the  largest 

f  O  O 

class  400  miles  from  the  ocean. 

THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

We  have  already  seen  that  no  considerable 
rivers  run  into  the  lakes  of  the  St.  Lawrence ; 
and  this  may  prepare  us  for  the  fact,  which  is 
obvious  on  inspecting  the  map,  that  many  of  the 
streams  which  empty  into  the  Mississippi  rise 
very  near  to  the  lakes.  Take  for  example  the 
Ohio,  which  rises  within  five  miles  of  Lake  Erie, 
and  there  are  many  similar  cases.  It  is  a  re- 
markable fact,  that  no  mountains  or  grounds  of 
considerable  elevation,  divide  the  tributaries  of 
the  lakes  from  those  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
On  the  contrary,  the  waters  of  Lake  Michigan 
are  so  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  Des  Plaines, 
(a  continuation  of  the  Illinois,)  which  flows  into 
3* 


30  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

the  Mississippi,  that  in  seasons  of  great  flood 
their  waters  not  only  mingle,  but  boats  have  been 
known  to  pass  from  the  one  into  the  other.  The 
valley  of  the  Mississippi  embraces  all  that  part 
of  the  United  States  lying  between  the  Alle- 
ghany  or  Appalachian  Mountains,  and  the  Chip- 
pewayan  or  Rocky  Mountains ;  the  waters  of 
which  are  discharged  through  the  mouths  of  the 
Mississippi  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

This  great  central  valley  may  be  divided  into 
four  parts.  First,  the  portion  between  the  lakes 
and  the  Alleghany  Mountains  ;  this  is  traversed 
by  the  Ohio,  and  its  numerous  confluents.  Se- 
cond, the  portion  between  the  lakes  and  the  Mis- 
souri ;  this  is  traversed  by  the  Mississippi  proper. 
Third,  the  portion  occupied  by  the  Missouri  it- 
self, including  the  course  of  the  River  Platte. 

7  O 

Fourth,  the  valley  of  the  Lower  Mississippi,  with 
the  Arkansas  and  Red  Rivers. 

THE   VALLEY  OF    THE  OHIO. 

The  Ohio  Valley  is  subdivided  by  the  river 
into  two  unequal  sections,  leaving  on  the  right 
or  north-west  side  80,000,  and  on  the  left  or 
south-east  side,  116,000  square  miles.  The  Ohio 
river  flows  in  a  deep  ravine,  which  forms  a  com- 
mon recipient  for  the  waters  drained  from  both 
slopes.  The  length  of  the  ravine,  in  a  direct 
line  from  Pittsburg  to  the  Mississippi,  is  540 
miles,  but  by  following  the  serpentine  course  of 
the. Ohio,  is  a  distance  of  948  miles.  *  "  The 
hills  are  generally  found  near  the  rivers  or  larger 

*  Bourne. 


THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  OHIO.  31 

creeks,  arid  parallel  to  them  on  each  side,  having 
between  them  the  alluvial  valley  through  which 
the  stream  meanders,  usually  near  the  middle, 
but  sometimes  washing  the  foot  of  either  hill. 
Perhaps  the  best  idea  of  the  topography  of  this 
region  may  be  obtained,  by  conceiving  it  to  be 
one  vast  elevated  plain,  near  the  centre  of  which 
the  streams  rise,  and  in  their  course  wearing 

*  o 

down  a  bed  or  valley,  whose  depth  is  in  propor- 
tion to  their  size  or  the  solidity  of  the  earth  over 
which  they  flow.  So  that  our  hills,  with  some 
few  exceptions,  are  nothing  more  or  less  than 
cliffs  or  banks  made  by  the  action  of  the  streams, 
and  although  these  cliffs  or  banks  on  the  rivers 

o 

or  large  creeks  approach  the  size  of  mountains, 
yet  their  tops  are  generally  level  like  the  remains 
of  an  ancient  plain."  The  tributaries  of  the 
Ohio  which  flow  from  the  Alleghany  Mountains 
are  from  their  sources  nearly  to  their  mouths, 
mountain  torrents,  and  have  their  courses  gene- 
rally in  deep  channels,  and  often  through  deep 
chasms  with  perpendicular  banks  of  limestone  ; 
those  flowing  from  the  north-west,  rise  in  the 

O 

table-land  forming  the  dividing  ridge  between 
the  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Missis- 
sippi, with  a  slight  current,  but  increase  in  their 
velocity  until  they  unite  with  the  Ohio.  In  its 
natural  state,  the  valley  of  the  Ohio  was  for  the 
most  part  covered  with  a  dense  forest,  but  the 
central  plain  presents  an  exception.  As  far  east 
as  the  sources  of  the  Muskingum,  commenced 
open  savannahs,  covered  with  grass  and  devoid 
of  timber.  Like  the  plain  itself,  those  savan- 
nahs expand  to  the  westward  and  open  into  im- 


32  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

mense  natural  meadows,  known  under  the  de- 
nomination of  prairies.  The  Ohio,  from  Pitts- 
burgh to  the  Mississippi,  a  course  of  nine  hun- 
dred and  forty-eight  miles,  falls  only  about  400 
feet,  or  about  5  inches  in  a  mile.  This  river, 
and  its  principal  branch  the  Alleghany,  are  in  a 
striking  manner  gentle  as  respects  currents  ;  and 
from  Oleari,  in  the  state  of  New-York,  to  the 
Mississippi,  over  a  distance  of  1160  miles,  fol- 
lowing the  streams,  at  a  moderately  high  flood, 
it  meets  (excepting  the  rapids  at  Louisville)  with 
not  a  single  serious  natural  impediment.  The 
Monongahela,  more  impetuous,  is  yet  navigable 
far  into  Virginia.  On  the  north-west  side  of  the 
valley,  the  rivers  are  extremely  rapid.  Poising 
on  a  table-land  from  300  to  100  feet  above  their 
mouths,  and  in  no  instance  having  a  direct  course 
of  300  miles,  the  streams,  though  falling  gradu- 
ally, are  almost  torrents.  The  Big  Beaver, 
Muskingum  and  Hockhocking,  have  direct  falls  ; 
but  the  Sciota,  Miami  and  Wabash,  though  rapid, 
have  no  falls  that  seriously  impede  navigation. 

THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 

The  Mississippi  rises  in  Lat.  47°  10',  N., 
Lon.  95°  54',  W.,  surrounded  by  an  immense 
marshy  plain,  indented  with  small  lakes  abound- 
inor  vvith  fish  and  wild  rice,  and  elevated  1500 

o 

feet  above  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  is  a  circum- 
stance peculiar  to  this  river,  that  the  physiogno- 
my of  nature  around  its  head  bears  so  strong 
resemblance  to  that  of  its  estuary.  A  difference 
of  19  degrees  of  latitude  precludes  much  simi- 


THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY.  33 

larity  in  vegetable  or  stationary  animal  production. 
But,  says  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  who  visited  the  sources 
in  the  month  of  July,  "  the  migratory  water  fowl 
found  there  at  that  time  of  the  year,  are  very 
nearly  the  same  which  flock  in  countless  mil- 
lions over  the  Delta  in  December,  January, 
February  and  March.  It  is  also  deserving  of 
remark,  that  its  sources  lie  in  a  region  of  almost 
continual  winter,  while  it  enters  the  Ocean  under 
the  latitude  of  perpetual  verdure."  On  a  view 
of  the  particular  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  its 
general  sameness  first  strikes  the  eye.  No  chains 
or  groups  of  mountains  rise  to  vary  the  scene. 
Over  so  wide  a  space  as  180,000  square  miles, 
some  solitary  elevations  exist,  which,  for  want 
of  contrast,  are  dignified  by  the  name  of  moun- 
tains ;  but  few  continuous  tracts  of  equal  extent, 
affords  so  little  diversity  of  surface. 

The  upper  part  of  the  Mississippi  is  traversed 
by  numerous  falls  and  rapids  of  inconsiderable 
descent,  until,  after  a  meandering  course  of 
420  miles,  it  precipitates  its  waters  down  the 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  16J  feet  perpendicular  ; 
and  9  miles  below,  receives  its  largest  confluent, 
the  St.  Peters,  which  rises  among  the  sacred  red- 
pipestone  quarries  of  the  Indians.  The  Missis- 
sippi from  the  St.  Peters  to  some  distance  below 
Galena,  flows  in  small  streams,  (with  the  ex- 
ception of  Lake  Pepin,  an  expansion  of  20  miles 
in  length  and  5  in  width,)  curling  among  a  mul- 
titude of  islands,  which  in  the  summer  season 
are  clothed  with  grass,  flowers  and  forest  trees  ; 
and  so  thickly  covered,  that  it  is  said,  there  are 
but  three  places  between  Prairie  du  Chien  and 


34  .  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

St.  Peters  river,  a  distance  of  220  miles,  where 
you  can  see  across  the  river.  The  bluffs  which 
bound  the  river  are  delightful  to  the  eye,  running 
frequently  in  high  and  continuous  ridges,  then 
divided  by  valleys  and  streams  entering  the  river  ; 
and  are  covered  to  the  summit  with  the  same 
splendid  verdure  asj;he  islands. 

The  Mississippi,  after  a  distance  of  999  miles 
from  its  source,  and  receiving  in  its  course  from 

. 

the  east,  the  Chippewa,  Wisconsin,  Rock  and 
Illinois  rivers,  and  many  smaller  streams ;  and 
from  the  west,  the  St.  Peters,  Up.  Iowa,  Turkey, 
Makoqueta,  Wapsipinecon,  Iowa,  Des  Moine  and 
Salt  rivers,  and  many  others  of  less  note,  unite 
and  mingle  its  bright  waters  with  the  dark  Mis- 
souri. 

THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  MISSOURI. 

The  Missouri  rises  in  the  Chippewayan  or 
Rocky  Mountains.  As  viewed  from  the  course 
of  this  river,  the  mountains  rise  abruptly  out  of 
the  plains,  which  lie  extended  at  their  base,  and 
tower  in  peaks  of  great  height,  which  render 
them  visible  at  an  immense  distance.  They  con- 
sist of  ridges,  knobs  and  peaks,  variously  dis- 
posed, among  which  are  interspersed  many  broad 
and  fertile  valleys.  The  more  elevated  parts  are 
covered  with  perpetual  snow,  which  give  them  at 
a  distance  a  most  brilliant  appearance.  They 
are  covered  with  a  scattering  growth  of  scrub- 
by pine,  oak,  cedar  and  furze.  The  Missouri 
rises  far  within  the  bosom  of  the  mountains,  and 
is  divided  by  a  single  ridge  from  the  waters  of 


THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  MISSOURI.  35 

the  Columbia,'  which  flow  into  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
In  its  early  course,  it  flows  through  small  but 
beautiful  and  fertile  valleys,  deeply  embosomed 
amidst  the  surrounding  heights,  and  forms  a  va- 

O  o  7 

riety  of  islands  in  its  progress,  till  at  length  it 
issues  from  these  verdant  recesses  bv  a  rockv 

v  W 

pass,  which  has  not  unaptly  been  called  the  Gates 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  * 

*  For  five  and  three  quarter  miles,  these  recks 
rise  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  perpendicularly 
from  the  water's  edge,  to  the  height  of  nearly 
1,200  feet.  The  river  (three  hundred  and  fifty 
yards  in  width)  seems  to  have  forced  its  channel 
through  this  solid  mass  ;  but  so  reluctantly  has 
it  given  way,  that,  during  the  whole  distance,  the 
water  is  very  deep,  even  at  the  edges,  and  for 
the  first  three  miles  there  is  not  a  spot,  except 
one  of  a  few  yards,  in  which  a  man  could  stand 
between  threwaters  and  the  towering  perpen- 
dicular of  the  mountains.  The  convulsion  of 
the  passage  must  have  been  terrible,  since  at  its 
outlet  there  are  vast  columns  of  rock  torn  from 
the  mountains,  which  are  strewed  on  both  sides 
of  the  river,  the  trophies,  as  it  were,  of  the  vic- 
tory. This  extraordinary  range  of  rocks  is  called 
the  "Gates  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.''  At  the 
junction  of  the  Yellow-Stone  and  the  Missouri, 
the  river  by  either  branch  has  flowed  more  than 
a  thousand  miles.  A  few  miles  below  the  influx 
of  the  Yellow-Stone,  the  Missouri  has  reached 
its  utmost  northern  bend,  in  N.  Lat.  48°  20' ; 
and  curves,  by  a  regular  sweep  of  200  miles,  to 

#  Lewis  and  Clark. 


36  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

the  Mandan  villages.  The  Platte  and  Kansas 
are  two  great  confluents  of  the  Missouri,  rising 
in  the  same  mountains,  and  flowing  eastwardly, 
the  former  700,  arid  the  latter  600  miles.  The 
Platte  derives  its  name  from  the  circumstance  of 
its  being  broad  and  shoal ;  its  average  width  being 
about  1,200  yards,  exclusive  of  the  islands  it 
embosoms,  with  a  rapid  current,  and  is  ford  able 
almost  everywhere.  The  character  of  the  Kan- 
sas is  nearly  similar,  being  navigable  only  in  high 
freshets,  and  then  not  exceeding  200  miles  from 

7  O 

its  mouth.  Grand  and  Chariton  on  the  north, 
and  Osage  and  Gasconade  on  the  south,  (navi- 
gable streams,)  are  tributaries  of  the  Missouri. 
After  a  direct  course  of  1,870  miles,  and  a  mean- 
dering one  of  3,000,  the  Missouri  unites  with 
the  Mississippi.  The  valley  of  the  Missouri  oc- 
cupies an  area  of  523,000  square  miles.  Three 
remarkable  features  exist  in  it — first,  the  turbid 
character  of  its  waters ;  second,  the  very  un- 
equal volumes  of  the  right  and  left  confluents  ; 
and  third,  the  immense  excess  of  the  open  prai- 
ries over  the  river  lines  of  the  forest.  In  the 
direction  of  the  western  rivers,  the  inclined  plane 
of  the  Missouri  extends  800  miles  from  the  Chip- 
pewayan  mountains,  and  rather  more  than  that 
distance  from  south  to  north,  from  the  southern 
branches  of  the  Kansas,  to  the  extreme  heads  of 
the  northern  confluents  of  the  valley.  *  "As- 
cending from  the  lower  verge  of  this  widely  ex- 
tended plain,  wood  becomes  more  and  more 
scarce,  until  one  naked  surface  spreads  on  all 

*  Darby. 


VALLEY  OF  THE  LOWER  MISSISSIPPI.  37 

sides.  Even  the  ridges  and  chains  of  the  moun- 
tains partake  of  these  traits  of  desolation.  The 
traveller  in  those  parts,  who  has  read  the  de- 
scriptions of  central  Asia  by  Tooke  or  Pallas, 
will  feel,  on  the  higher  branches  of  the  Missouri, 
a  resemblance  at  once  striking  and  appalling. 
He  will  regret  how  much  of  the  earth's  surface 
is  doomed  to  irremediable  silence,  and  if  near 
the  Chippewayan  heights  in  winter,  he  will  ac- 
knowledge, that  the  utmost  intensity  of  frost  in 
Siberia  and  Mongolia  has  its  full  counterpart  in 
North  America,  on  similar,  if  not  on  lower  lati- 
tudes." "  But  of  all  the  characteristics  which 
distinguish  the  Missouri  and  its  confluents,  the 
few  direct  falls,  or  even  rapids,  is  certainly  the 
most  remarkable.  Between  Dearborne's  and 
Maria's  rivers,  the  stream  leaves  the  Chippe- 
wayan range  by  rolling  over  ledges  of  rocks  for 
a  distance  of  18  miles,  after  which  this  over- 
whelming mass  of  water,  though  everywhere 
flowing  with  great  rapidity,  nowhere  swells  into 
a  lake,  or  rolls  over  a  single  cataract,  in  a  dis- 
tance of  at  least  3,500  miles,  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  If,  therefore,  the  Amazon  is  excepted, 
the  Missouri  and  its  continuation,  the  Mississip- 
pi, afford  the  most  extended,  uninterrupted  line 
of  river  navigation  which  has  ever  been  dis- 

o 

covered." 

VALLEY  OF  THE  LOWER  MISSISSIPPI. 

After  being  joined  by  the  Missouri,  the  Mis- 
sissippi makes  a  direct  course  of  820,  or  follow- 
ing its  meanderings,  1 ,265  miles,  to  the  Gulf  of 

4 


38  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

• 

Mexico.  In  no  circumstance  is  the  physical 
geography  of  the  United  States  more  remarkable 
than  in  the  extreme  inequality  of  the  two  op- 
posing planes,  down  which  are  poured  the  con- 
fluents of  the  Mississippi,  below  the  influx  of  the 
Ohio.  The  western  inclined  plane,  falling  from 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  sweeps  over  upwards  of 
81)0  miles ;  while  the  eastern,  sloping  from  the 
Appalachian,  has  not  a  mean  width  of  100  miles. 
The  rivers  which  drain  the  two  slopes  are,  in  re- 
spective length,  proportionate  to  the  extent  of 
their  planes  of  descent.  Although  Red  river 
exceeds  a  comparative  course  of  800  miles,  the 
Arkansas  of  1,000,  and  White  river  of  400,  the 
longest  stream  from  the  opposite  slope  falls  short 
of  200  miles.  The  alluviari  brought  down  by 
such  volumes  of  water  as  those  of  White,  Ar- 
kansas and  Red  rivers,  explains  satisfactorily  the 
reason  why  the  Mississippi  infringes  so  often  on 
the  eastern,  and  no  where  below  the  Ohio  touches 
the  western  bluffs.  The  lower  valley  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi is  the  most  variegated  section  of  the 
United  States.  *  "  Every  form  of  landscape, 
every  trait  of  natural  physiognomy,  and  an  ex- 
haustless  quantity,  with  an  illimitable  specific 
diversity  of  vegetable  and  metallic  productions, 
are  found  upon  this  extensive  region.  It  is 
flanked  on  the  east  by  a  dense  forest,  and  on  the 
west  by  the  naked  ridges  and  spires  of  the  Chip- 
pewayan  mountains  ;  while  the  deep  entangled 
woods  of  the  Mississippi  stand  in  striking  relief 
against  the  expansive  prairies  of  the  Arkansas 
and  Red  rivers." 

#  Darby. 


INUNDATIONS  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  39 


INUNDATIONS  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

The  spring  floods  to  which  the  Mississippi  is 
subject,  are  remarkable  for  their  long  and  steady 
continuance  ;  a  circumstance  highly  favorable  to 
inland  navigation.  It  is  obvious,  on  a  glance  at 
the  different  regions  from  whence  the  waters  are 
drawn,  that  the  rivers  must  be  high  at  different 
periods  of  the  year.  It  is  evident,  also,  that  in 
the  breaking  up  of  winter,  the  water  in  the  same 
valley  is  drawn  from  its  sources  gradually  ;  when, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Mississippi,  the  river  flows 
from  the  poles  towards  the  equator.  Similar  re- 
marks apply  to  the  Ohio  and  the  Arkansas  ;  so 
that  the  duration  of  the  flood  season  is  thus 
lengthened,  while  the  quantity  of  water  in  a  given 
time  is  moderated.  Generally,  the  Red  River 
flows  out  in  February,  or  early  in  March.  The 
great  flood  from  the  Arkansas,  the  Ohio,  and  the 
Upper  Mississippi,  commences  early  in  March, 
and  attains  its  full  height  in  the  middle  of  June. 
Abating  from  the  latter  period,  it  has  nearly  sub- 
sided by  the  first  of  August,  when  the  retarded 
flow  of  the  Missouri  arrives  to  complete  the 
annual  inundation. 

FACE  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 

The  surface  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  may  be 
arranged  under  three  natural  divisions — the  for- 
est, or  thickly  timbered,  the  barrens,  and  prairie 
country.  The  timber  most  abundant  in  this  ter- 
ritory are  the  oak,  of  various  species,  black  and 
white  walnut,  ash  of  the  several  varieties,  elm, 


40  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

sugar-maple,  honey-locust,  birch,  buck-eye,  hack- 
berry,  linden,  hickory,  cotton-wood,  white  and 
yellow  pine,  peccari,  mulberry,  sycamore,  box, 
sassafras,  persimmon,  with  several  others.  The 
undergrowth  consists  principally  of  red  bud,  paw- 
paw, sumach,  plum,  crab-apple,  dog-wood,  hazel, 
spice-bush,  grape  vines,  green  brier,  &/c.  The 
trees  are  very  luxuriant  in  their  growth,  and  are 
frequently  found  of  a  stupendous  size. 

Barrens  are  a  species  of  country  of  a  mixed 
character,  uniting  forest  and  prairie.  They  are 
covered  with  scattered  oaks,  rough  and  stinted 

7  o 

in  their  appearance,  interspersed  with  patches  of 
hazel,  brush-wood,  and  tough  grass.  The  ap- 
pearance of  this  description  of  country  led  the 
early  settlers  to  suppose,  that  the  scantiness  of 
the  timber  was  owing  to  the  sterility  of  the  soil, 
and  hence,  the  title  thus  ignorantly  given,  be- 
came of  universal  application  to  this  extensive 
tract  of  country.  It  is  ascertained,  however, 
that  those  "  barrens''  have  as  productive  a  soil 
as  can  be  found  in  the  western  states — healthy, 
more  rolling  than  the  prairies,  and  abounding 
with  that  important  requisite,  good  springs.  The 
fire  passes  over  these  "  barrens"  in  the  fall,  but 
owing  to  the  insufficiency  of  the  fuel,  is  not  able 
to  destroy  entirely  the  timber.  The  farmer  may 
settle  without  hesitation  on  any  part  of  this  land, 
where  he  can  find  timber  enough  for  his  present 
wants,  for  the  soil  is  better  adapted  to  all  the 
purposes  of  farming  and  changes  of  the  seasons, 
than  the  deeper  and  richer  mould  of  the  prairies. 
The  next,  and  far  most  extensive  surface,  is 
the  "  openings,"  the  rich  level,  or  rolling  prai- 


FACE  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  41 

ries,  interspersed  with  belts  and  points  of  tim- 
ber, and  the  vast  sterile  prairies  of  the  Far 
West. 

And  first,  the  "  oak  openings,"  so  termed 
from  their  distinctive  feature  of  the  varieties  of 
oak  which  are  scattered  over  them,  interspersed 
at  times  with  pine,  black  walnut,  and  other  for- 
est trees,  which  spring  from  a  rich  vegetable  soil. 
The  surface  is  ordinarily  dry  and  rolling,  with 
trees  of  a  moderate  growth.  Among  the  "  oak 
openings,"  are  found  some  of  the  most  lively 
landscapes  of  the  west ;  and  for  miles  and  miles, 
a  varied  scenery  of  natural  growth,  with  all  the 
diversity  of  gently  swelling  hill  and  dale — here, 
trees  grouped  or  standing  single ;  and  there, 
arranged  in  long  avenues,  as  though  planted  with 
human  hands,  with  slips  of  open  meadow  be- 
tween. Sometimes  the  "  openings"  are  dotted 
with  numerous  clear  lakes,  and  form  scenes  of 
enchanting  loveliness.  They  are  fed  by  subterra- 
neous springs,  or  the  rains  ;  and  few  having  any 
apparent  outlet,  lose  their  surplus  waters  by 
evaporation.  Michigan  and  Illinois  abound  with 
these  oak  openings.  The  rich  "  rolling  prairie" 
forms  the  second  division,  which  presents  other 
features,  and  in  a  great  degree  another  vegeta- 
tion. These  prairies  abound  with  the  thickest 
and  most  luxuriant  belts  of  forest ;  or,  as  they 
are  termed,  "  timbers,"  scattered  over  the  open 
face  of  the  country,  in  bands  or  patches  of  every 
possible  form  and  size,  generally  following  the 
meanders  of  the  water  courses,  sometimes  at 
short  distances,  at  other  times,  miles  and  miles 
apart.  They  present  wide  and  slightly  undulating 

4* 


42  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

tracts  .of  the  rankest  herbage  and  flowers,  many 
ridges  and  hollows  filled  with  purple  thistles,  and 
ponds  filled  with  aquatic  plants.  In  Missouri, 
they  occcupy  the  higher  portions  of  the  country  ; 
the  descent  to  the  wooded  "  bottoms  '  being  in- 
variably over  steep  and  stony  declivities.  The 
depth  and  richness  of  the  soil  on  these  lands  are 
almost  incredible,  and  the  edges  of  the  timbered 
strips  are  the  favorite  haunt  of  the  emigrant  set- 
tler and  backwoodsman,  in  quest  of  game. 

The  third  division  is  the  vast  boundless 
prairies  of  the  "  Far  West,"  unbroken,  save  by 
the  forest,  rising  on  the  alluvian  of  some  water 
course  below  their  level,  or  by  the  skirts  of 
knotted  and  harsh  oak-wood,  of  thick  and  stinted 
growth.  The  prairies  occupy  the  highest  part 
of  the  table-land,  toward  the  sources  of  the  great 
rivers  and  their  tributaries.  They  abound  with 
abrupt  and  peculiarly  shaped  flinty  hills,  swelling 
up  from  the  general  level  ;  great  salt  plains,  and 
occasionally  with  isolated  rocks  rising  from  the 
surface,  with  perpendicular  sides,  as  though  cut 
by  the  hand  of  man,  standing  alone  in  the  midst 
of  these  prairies,  a  wonder  to  the  Indian  and  the 
trapper.  They  are  seldom  perfectly  level.  As 
you  advance,  one  immense  sea  of  grass  swells  to 
the  horizon  after  another,  unbroken,  for  miles, 
by  rock  or  tree.  They  are  the  home  of  the  bison, 
and  the  hunting  ground  of  the  roving  bands  of 
the  red  men  of  the  West. 

CLIMATE  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 
We  may  conceive  four  distant  climates  be- 

*  Flint. 


" 


CLIMATE  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY.         43 

tween  the  sources  and  the  outlet  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. The  first  commencing  at  its  source  and 
terminating  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  corresponds 
pretty  accurately  to  the  climate  between  Mon- 
treal and  Boston,  with  this  difference,  that  the 
amount  of  snow  falling  in  the  former  is  much 

o 

less  than  in  the  latter  region.     The  growing  of 
gourd  seed  corn,  w^Jiich  demands  a  higher  tem- 
perature to  bring  it  to  maturity,  is   not  pursued 
in  this  region.     The  Irish  potatce  is  raised  in 
this  climate  in  the  utmost  perfection.     Wheat, 
and  cultivated  grasses  succeed  well.     The  apple 
and  pear  tree  require  fostering  and  southern  ex- 
posure to  bring  fruit  to  perfection.     The  peach 
tree  has  still  more  the  habits  and  the  delicacy 
of  a  southern  stranger,  and  requires  a  sheltered 
declivity  with  a  southern   exposure,  to   succeed 
at  all.     Five  months  in  the  year  may  be  said  to 
be  under  the  dominion  of   winter.      For  that 
length  of  time,  the  cattle  require  shelter  in  the 
severe  wreather,  and  the  still  waters  remain  fro- 
zen.    The  second  climate  extends  over  the  op- 
posite States  of  Missouri   and  Illinois   in  their 
whole  extent,  or  the  country  between  43°  and 
37°.     Cattle,  though  much   benefitted  by  shel- 
tering, and  often  needing  it,  here  seldom  receive 
it.     It  is  not  so  favorable  for  cultivated  grasses 
as  the  preceding  region.     Gourd  seed  corn  is 
the  only  kind  extensively  planted.     The  winter 
commences  with   January   and    ends   with    the 
second  week  in  February  ;  the  ice   in   the   still 
waters  after  that  time  thaws.     Wheat,  the  in- 
habitant of  a  variety  of  climates,  is  at  home  as 
a  native  in  this.     The  persimmon  and  the  paw- 


44  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

paw  are  found  in  its  whole  extent.  It  is  the  fa- 
vored region  of  the  apple,  the  pear  and  the  peach. 
Snow  neither  falls  deep  nor  lies  long.  The  Irish 
potato  succeeds  to  a  certain  extent,  but  not  as 
well  as  in  the  former  climate ;  but  this  disad- 
vantage is  supplied  by  the  sweet  potato,  which, 
though  not  at  home  in  this  climate,  with  a  little- 
care  in  the  cultivation,  flourishes.  The  grandeur 

•  •  o 

of  the  vegetation,  and  the  temperature  of  March 
and  April,  indicates  an  approach  towards  the 
southern  regions. 

"  The  third  climate  extends  from  37°  to  31°. 
Below  35°,  in  the  rich  alluvial  soils,  the  apple 
tree  begins  to  fail  in  bringing  its  fruit  to  per- 
fection ;  apples  worth  eating  are  seldom  raised 
much  below  New  Madrid.  Below  33°,  com- 
mences the  proper  climate  for  cotton,  and  here 
it  is  the  staple  article  of  cultivation.  Festoons 
of  long  moss  hang  from  the  trees  and  darken 
the  forest,  and  the  palmetto  gives  to  the  low 
alluvial  grounds  a  grand  and  striking  verdure. 
The  muscadine  grape,  strongly  designating  the 
climate,  is  first  found  here.  Laurel  trees  be- 
come common  in  the  forest,  retaining  their  foliage 
and  their  verdure  through  the  winter.  Wheat 
is  no  longer  seen  as  an  article  of  cultivation,  but 
the  fig-tree  brings  its  fruit  to  full  maturity. 

"  Below  this  limit  to  the  gulf,  is  the  fourth 
climate,  the  region  of  the  sugar-cane  and  the 
orange-tree.  It  would  be,  if  cultivated,  the  re- 
gion of  the  olive.  Snow  is  no  longer  seen  to 
fall,  except  a  few  flakes  in  the  coldest  storms ; 
the  streams  are  never  frozen  ;  winter  is  only 
marked  by  nights  of  white  frosts  and  days  of 


CLIMATE  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY.         45 

north-west  winds,  which  seldom  last  longer  than 
three  days  in  succession,  and  are  followed  by 
south  winds  and  warm  days. 

"  In  such  a  variety  of  climate  and  exposure, 
in  a  country  alternately  covered  in  one  point 
with  the  thickest  forests,  and  in  another  spread- 
ing out  into  grassy  plains,  and  with  almost  every 
shade  of  temperature,  there  must  necessarily  be 
generated  all  the  forms  and  varieties  of  disease 
that  spring  simply  from  climate.  Emigrants  will 
always  find  it  unsafe  to  select  their  residence 
near  stagnate  waters,  and  the  rich  and  heavy 
timbered  alluvians  ;  yet  these  from  their  fertility, 
and  the  ease  in  which  they  are  brought  into  cul- 
tivation, are  the  points  most  frequently  selected. 
The  rich  plains  of  the  Sciota  were  the  graves 
of  the  first  settlers,  but  they  have  long  since  been 
brought  into  cultivation,  and  have  lost  their 
character  for  insalubrity.  Hundreds  of  places 
in  the  west,  which  were  selected  as  residences 
bv  the  first  emigrants  on  account  of  their  fer- 

J 

tility,  and  which  were  at  first  regarded  as  haunts 
of  disease  and  mortality,  have  since  become 
healthy.  Wherever  the  '  bottoms  '  are  wide,  the 
forest  deep,  the  surface  level  and  sloping  back 
from  the  river,  and  the  vegetation  rank — wher- 
ever the  rivers  over  flow,  and  leave  stagnate  waters 
that  are  only  carried  offby  evaporation — wherever 
there  are  in  the  '  bottoms/  ponds  and  lagoons  to 
catch  and  retain  the  rains,  and  the  overflow,  it 
may  be  assumed  as  a  general  maxim  that  such 
places  are  unhealthy.  Emigrants  have  scarcely 
ever  paused  long  enough,  or  taken  sufficient  care 
in  selecting  their  residences  as  a  place  of  salu- 


46  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

brity.  A  deep  '  bottom,'  a  fertile  soil,  the  mar- 
gin of  some  navigable  stream,  are  apt  to  be  the 
determining  elements  of  their  choice.  The 
forest  is  levelled,  hundreds  of  trees  moulder  and 
putrify  about  the  cabin ;  the  stagnate  waters 
which,  while  shielded  from  the  action  of  the  sun 
by  the  forest,  had  remained  comparatively  in- 
noxious, exposed  now  to  the  burning  rays  of  the 
sun,  arid  rendered  more  deleterious  by  being 
filled  with  trunks  and  branches  of  decaying 
trees,  and  all  kinds  of  putrid  vegetation,  become 
laboratories  of  miasma,  and  generate  on  every 
side  the  seeds  of  disease.  When  it  is  known 
that  such  have  been  precisely  the  circumstance 
in  which  a  great  portion  of  the  emigrants  to  the 
western  country  have  fixed  themselves,  in  open 
cabins  that  drink  in  the  humid  atmosphere  of 
the  night,  through  a  hundred  crevices,  in  a  new 
and  untried  climate,  under  a  higher  tempera- 
ture, a  new  diet  and  regimen,  and  perhaps,  un- 
der the  depressing  influence  of  severe  labor  and 
exposure,  need  we  wonder,  that  the  country  has 
acquired  a  character  of  unhealthiness.  Yet, 
where  the  forest  is  cleared  away,  and  the  land 
has  been  for  a  sufficient  time  under  cultivation, 
and  is  sufficiently  remote  from  stagnate  waters, 
generally  may  be  considered  as  healthy  as  any 
other  country.  It  is  a  very  trite,  but  a  true  and 
important  remark,  that  in  proportion  as  the 
country  becomes  opened,  cultivated,  and  peo- 
pled— in  proportion  as  the  redundance  and  rank- 
ness  of  natural  vegetation  is  replaced  by  that  of 
cultivation,  the  country  becomes  more  healthy." 
Dr.  Drake  remarks — "  The  diseases  of  this 


CLIMATE  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY.          47 

portion  of  the  great  valley  are  few,  and  prevail 
chiefly  in  summer  and  autumn.  They  are  the 
offspring  of  the  combined  action  of  intense  heat 
and  marsh  exhalation.  Those  who  migrate  from 
a  colder  climate  to  the  southern  Mississippi 
states,  should  observe  the  following  directions. 
1st.  To  arrive  there  in  autumn,  instead  of  spring 
or  summer.  2d.  If  practicable,  to  spend  the 
hottest  part  of  the  first  two  or  three  years  in  a 
higher  latitude.  3d.  To  select  the  healthiest 
situation.  4th.  To  live  temperately.  5th.  To 
preserve  a  regular  habit.  Lastly.  To  avoid  the 
heat  of  the  sun,  from  ten  in  the  morning  till 
four  in  the  afternoon  ;  and  above  all,  the  night 
air.  By  a  strict  attention  to  these  rules,  many 
would  escape  the  diseases  of  the  climate,  who 
annually  sink  under  its  baneful  influence." 

Mr.  Peck  observes — "  The  same  causes  for 
disease  exist  in  Ohio  as  in  Missouri :  in  Michi- 
gan as  in  Illinois  ;  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
as  in  Indiana.  All  those  states  are  more  in- 
fested with  maladies  which  depend  on  variations 
of  temperature,  than  the  states  farther  south. 
All  have  localities  where  inter  mittents  and  agues 
are  found,  and  all  possess  extensive  districts  of 
country  where  health  is  enjoyed,  by  a  large  pro- 
portion of  emigrants.  There  is  some  difference 
between  a  heavily  timbered  and  a  prairie  country, 
in  favor  of  the  latter,  other  circumstances  being 
equal.  Changes,  favorable  to  continued  health, 
are  produced  by  the  settlements  and  cultivation 
of  the  country.  In  fine,  I  am  prepared  to  give 
my  opinion,  decidedly,  in  favor  of  this  country 
and  climate.  I  would  not  certainly  be  answera- 


I 

48  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK, 

ble  for  all  the  bad  locations,  the  imprudence  and 
whims  of  all  classes  of  emigrants,  which  may 
operate  unfavorable  to  health." 

PUBLIC  LANDS. 

All  the  lands  owned  by  the  United  States  are 
surveyed  under  one  system.  The  General  Land 
Office  is  established  at  Washington  city.  Several 
offices,  each  under  the  direction  of  a  surveyor 
general,  have  been  established  from  time  to  time. 
The  office  for  the  surveys  of  all  public  lands  in 
Ohio,  Michigan  and  Indiana,  is  located  at  Cin- 
cinnati. The  one  for  the  states  of  Illinois  and 
Missouri,  is  at  St.  Louis.  Another  for  Wiscon- 
sin and  Iowa,  is  located  at  Du  Buque.  These 
tracts  are  subdivided  into  Land  Districts,  having 
an  office  attached  to  each. 

The  following  are  the  localities  of  the  offices 
attached  to  each  of  the  land  districts  in  the 
Western  States  :  In  Ohio,  Chillicothe  and  Up- 
per Sandusky  ;  in  Indiana,  Jeffersonville,  Vin- 
cennes,  Indianapolis, Crawfordsville,  FortWayne, 
and  Winamac ;  in  Illinois,  Shawneetown,  Kas- 
kaskia,  Edwardsville,Vandalia,  Palestine,  Spring- 
field, Danville,  Q,uincy,  Dixon  and  Chicago  ;  in 
Wisconsin,  Mineral  Point,  Green  Bay  and  Mil- 
waukie  ;  in  Michigan,  Detroit,  Kalamazoo,  Ge- 
nesee  and  Ionia  ;  in  Iowa,  Du  Buque,  F  airfield 
and  Iowa  city  ;  and  in  Missouri,  St.  Louis,  Fay- 
ctte,  Palmyra,  Jackson,  Clinton,  Springfield  and 
Plattsburg.  The  principles  of  surveying  for  the 
purposes  of  settlement  in  the  United  States, 
are  uniform  and  very  easy  of  comprehension. 


PUBLIC    LANDS.  49 

Meridian  lines  are  established  and  surveyed  in  a. 
line  due  north  from  some  important  point,  gene- 
rally from  the  junction  of  some  important  water 
courses.  These  are  intersected  at  right  angles 
with  a  base  line.  On  the  meridians,  the  "  town- 
ships '  are  niimbered  north  or  south  from  the 
base  lines,  and  on  the  base  line  "  ranges '  east 
or  west  of  the  meridian.  There  are  six  princi- 
pal meridians  used  in  the  western  states  and 
territories. 

The  first  principal  meridian  is  a  line  due  north 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami  river,  to  the 
old  northern  boundary  of  Ohio,  with  a  base  line 
'extending  due  east  on  the  41st  degree  of  lati- 
tude. 

The  second  principal  meridian  is  a  line  due 
north  from  a  point  on  the  Ohio  river  to  the  north- 
ern boundary  of  Indiana. 

The  third  principal  meridian  is  a  line  due 
north  from  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and  Mis- 
sissippi rivers,  to  the  north  boundary  of  Illinois. 
The  base  line  for  the  second  and  third  principal 
meridians,  commences  on  the  Ohio  river,  at  88° 
3D7  north  latitude,  and  extends  due  west  to  the 
Mississippi. 

The  fourth  principal  meridian  commences  on 
the  Illinois  river,  at,  a  point  72  miles  due  north 
from  its  mouth,  (here  also  -commences  its  base 
line,  and  runs  due  west  to  the  Mississippi  river.) 
The  meridian  continues  north  (crossing  and  re- 
crossing  the  Mississippi  river,)  to  the  Wisconsin 
river,  with  an  additional  base  line  on  the  north 
boundary  of  Illinois,  for  the  surveys  in  Wis- 
consin. 


50  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

The  fifth  principal  meridian  is  a  line  begin- 
ning at  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  river  ;  thence 
through  the  states  of  Arkansas  and  Missouri,  to 
town  54°  north,  where  it  crosses  the  Mississippi, 
re-crosses  into  Iowa  territory,  and  continues  to 
the  Mississippi  river,  near  Cassville.  Its  base 
line  extends  due  west  from  the  mouth  of  White 
river  to  the  western  boundary  of  Arkansas. 

A  sixth  principal  meridian  is  used  for  the  state 
of  Michigan,  beginning  on  the  south  boundary 
of  the  State,  in  a  due  north  direction  from  the 
junction  of  the  Maumee  and  Au.  Glaize  rivers, 
to  the  straits  of  Mackinac,  having  a  base  line 
crossing  the  peninsula  in  a  due  west  line  from 
about  the  centre  of  Lake  St.  Clair  to  Lake 
Michigan. 

When  a  meridian  and  base  line  have  been  laid 
out,  township  lines  are  run  (at  a  distance  of  6 
miles)  parallel  to  the  meridian  and  base  lines. 
These  form  townships  of  6  miles  square,  con- 
taining an  area  of  36  square  miles.  Each  square 
mile  is  termed  a  section,  and  contains  640  acres. 
The  sections  are  numbered  from  1  to  36,  begin- 
ning at  the  north-east  corner  of  the  township,  as 
in  the  following  diagram. 

Sections  are  divided  in  quarter  sections  of  160 
acres  each,  and  into  half  quarter  sections  of  80 
acres  each. 

When  surveyed,  the  lands  are  offered  for  sale 
at  public  auction,  but  cannot  be  disposed  of  at 
a  less  price  than  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per 
acre.  That  portion  not  sold  at  public  auction  is 
subject  to  private  entry  at  any  time,  for  the 
above  price,  payable  in  cash  at  the  time  of  entry. 


PUBLIC    LANDS. 


51 


Pre-emption  rights  only  give  the  improver  or 
possessor  the  privilege  of  purchasing  at  the 
minimum  price. 

DIAGRAM  OF  TOWNSHIP. 


6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

18 

47 

* 

15 

14 

13 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

30 

29 

28 

27 

26 

25 

31 

. 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

*  The  sixteenth   section  is  appropriated  for  the  use  of 
schools  in  the  township. 


52  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 


AWAY  TO  THE  WEST. 


BY  W.  K.   COLE. 


AWAY  in  the  West,  where  the  primeval  wood 
Yet  throws  its  dark  fringe  on  the  Michigan  flood  ; 
Where,  pale  in  their  beauty,  the  forest  flowers  bloom, 
And  the  earth  is  yet  mantled  in  forest-land  gloom ; 
•With  the  bounds  of  an  empire,  the  dark  virgin  soil. 
Full  of  treasures,  awaiteth  the  husbandman's  toil. 

Away  in  the  West,  by  the  Huron's  green  shore, 
Where  Nature  still  reigneth  supreme  as  of  yore ; 
Where,  murmuring  soft  in  the  flickering  gleam 
Of  its  leaf-curtained  hall,  goes  the  canopied  stream, 
There  spreads  a  broad  realm,  where  the  toil  of  the  poor 
May  keep  the  giirn  demon  of  Want  from  the  door. 

Away  in  the  West,  'neath  the  brightest  of  skies, 
And  horizon-bounded,  the  prairie  land  lies — 
The  prairie  land,  over  whose  surface  is  rolled 
A  garment  much  fairer  than  diamonds  and  gold. 
There  the  hard  hand  of  Labor  but  waving  its  wand, 
And  a  harvest  all  golden  springs  up  from  the  land. 

Away  to  the  West !  ye  who  grovel  and  pine 
In  the  haunts  of  the  many,  in  tunnel  and  mine  ; 
Banish  pick-axe  and  shovel ;  then,  ho  !  for  the  plow  : 
For  a  tithe  of  the  labor  that  dampens  your  brow 
Will  place  you  in  plenty — a  lithe  of  your  toil 
Make  you  chief  of  the  manor,  and  lord  of  the  soil. 

Ye  famishing  legions  from  Europe  just  fled, 

Ye  exiles  of  Hunger,  ye  seekers  of  bread — 

Away  with  the  moment,  and  linger  no  more 

By  the  waves  that  have  borne  you  across  to  our  shore ; 

For  millions  and  millions  as  yet  there  is  room, 

Where  the  prairie  lands  smile  and  the  forest  trees  bloom. 


THE    STATE    OF    OHIO.  53 

THE  STATE  OF  OHIO. 

Ohio  is  bounded  north  by  the  State  of  Michi- 
gan and  Lake  Erie,  east  by  Pennsylvania,  south- 
east and  south  by  the  Ohio  river,  which  separ- 
ates it  from  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  and  west  by 
Indiana.  It  lies  between  latitude  38°  34',  and 
42°  N.,  and  between  80°  35',  and  84°  4?'  W. 
longitude.  Length  222  miles,  mean  breadth 
200  miles  :  containing  44,400  square  miles. 

Face  of  the  Country,  Population,  fyc. — The 
northern  parts  of  the  state   bordering  on  Lake 
Erie,  and  the  interior,  are  generally  level,  and  in 
some  places  wet  and  marshy.     The  eastern  and 
south-eastern   parts,  near   the   Ohio   river,   are 
very  uneven,  often  rising  in  abrupt  and  broken 
hills — this    section    however,    cannot    properly 
be  termed  mountainous.       On  the  margin  of  the 
Ohio   and  several  of  its  tributaries,  are  strips  of 
alluvial   of  great  fertility.     The  valleys  of  the 
Sciota  and  the  Great  and  Little  Miami,  are  the 
most  extensive  sections  of  level,  rich  and  fertile 
lands  in   the  state.      In  a  state  of  nature,  Ohio 
was,  with  the  exception  of  some  central  prairies, 
covered  with  a  dense   forest,  to  which  the  fer- 
tility of  the  soil  gave  a  stupendous  development. 
The  most  extensive  prairies   are  found  on  the 
head  waters  of  the  Muskingum  and  Sciota  ;  also 
near  the  sources  of  the   Miami  river,  and  the 
north-western  parts  of   the  state.      The  forest 
trees  most  abundant,  are  the  oak  of  several  spe- 
cies, black  and  white  walnut,  hickory,  maple  of 
different   kinds,  ash  of  various   species,  beech, 
birch   and  poplar,   sycamore,  linden,   chestnut, 

5* 


EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

locust,  elm,  buck-eye,  with  numerous  others. 
The  agricultural  productions  are  wheat,  rye,  In- 
dian corn,  oats,  buck-wheat,  barley,  potatoes, 
and  all  kinds  of  garden  vegetables.  Considera- 
ble attention  of  late  has  been  paid  to  the  culti- 
vation of  hemp  and  tobacco.  The  raising  of 
horses,  sheep,  cattle  and  swine,  for  exportation, 
engages  the  attention  of  a  large  proportion  of  the 
farmers.  The  amount  of  agricultural  products 
of  this  state,  including  provisions,  flour,  wheat, 
&,c.,  annually  sent  to  other  states  of  the  Union, 
and  exported  to  foreign  countries,  is  greater  than 
from  any  other  of  the  United  States,  except 
New- York  ;  and  Ohio  may  emphatically  be  termed 
an  agricultural  state. 

Ohio  sixty  years  ago,  had  a  population  of  less 
than  5,000  ;  in  1840,  according  to  the  census  of 
theUnited  States,  there  was  in  the  state  1 ,519,467 ; 
and  the  population  at  the  present  time,  is  esti- 
mated by  the  Commissioner  of  Patents,  at 
1,850,000,  a  rapidity  of  increase  truly  aston- 
ishing. 

Agricultural  Products,  fyc. — The  estimate  of 
crops  in  this  state,  the  produce  of  the  harvests 
of  1847,  exhibits  the  following  amounts  of  grain 
and  other  agricultural  staples  :  Wheat  16,000,000 
bushels,  barley  240,000  bushels,  oats  26,500,000 
bushels,  rye  1,000,090  bushels,  buck-wheat 
1,21)0,000  bushels,  Indian  corn  or  maize, 
66,000,000  bushels,  potatoes  4,644,000  bushels, 
hay  1,400,000  tons,  tobacco  9,000,000  pounds, 
silk  cocoons  25,000  pounds,  arid  maple  sugar 
5,000,000  pounds.  Here  then  it  would  appear, 
that  sufficient  has  been  raised  to  support  three 


STATE  OF  OHIO.  55 

times  the  present  population.  The  surplus,  after 
feeding  all  the  inhabitants,  is  disposed  of  in  a 
variety  of  ways ;  some  is  exported  to  the  south 
and  east ;  some  converted  into  spirits /or  home 
and  foreign  use,  but  the  greater  proportion  is 
used  in  feeding  and  fattening  cattle  and  hogs  for 
rnirket,  which,  either  on  the  hoof  or  salted,  are 
disposed  of  on  the  spot  to  merchant  travellers, 
who  annually  visit  tiie  farmers ;  thus  enabling 
the  owner  to  convert  his  surplus  into  cash  or 
merchandize,  without  the  trouble  and  expense 
of  travelling  to  distant  ports  and  cities.  During 
the  famine  years  in  Europe,  (1846  and  1847,) 
the  quantities  thus  disposed  of  were  immense, 
and  the  prices  very  remunerative  to  the  producer, 
hut  the  settler  cannot  expect  or  wish  for  a  return 
of  such  extraordinary  demands,  and  must  rest 
satisfied  with  the  ordinary,  which  will  be  suffi- 
ciently encouraging  to  any  moderate  expectant. 

Li  UP,  Stock,  4»c. — The  number  of  horses  and 
mules  in  this  state  at  the  present  time,  is  530,500, 
of  neat  cattle  1,450,000,  of  sheep  2,250,000,  of 
swine  2,750,000,  and  the  value  of  poultry  is  es- 
timated at  $650,000.  The  number  of  persons 
engaged  in  agriculture  is  about  450,000. 

Rivrrs,  fyc. — The  principal  rivers  in  Ohio, 
besides  the  great  and  beautiful  river  wliioh  gives 
its  name  to  the  state,  and  forms  part  of  its 
eastern  and  its  entire  southern  boundary,  are  the 
M:ihoninor,  Beaver,  Muskingum,  Hockhocking, 
Sciota  and  Little  and  Great  Miami,  which  flow 
south  into  the  Ohio  river.  Those  which  flow 
northward  into  Like  Erie,  are  the  Maumee,  Por- 
tage, Sandusky,  Huron,  Cuyahoga,  Grand  and 


56  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

Ashtabuja.  Lake  Erie  forms  the  northern  boun- 
dary of  the  state  for  160  miles,  and  is  navigable 
for  the  largest  vessels.  * 

Form  of  Government. — The  Legislative  au- 
thority is  vested  in  a  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, both  of  which  collectively,  are 
styled  the  General  Assembly.  The  representa- 
tives are  chosen  for  one  year,  and  for  eligibility, 
must  be  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  25 
years  of  age,  having  resided  in  the  state  one 
year  and  paid  a  tax.  Their  number  must  never 
exceed  72,  nor  be  less  than  36. 

The  Senate  is  composed  of  members 
elected  for  two  years,  who  must  not  exceed 
one-half  nor  fall  short  of  one-third,  of  the  num- 
ber in  the  House  of  Representatives.  A  Senator 
must  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  30  years 
of  age,  and  have  resided  two  years  in  the  district 
from  which  he  is  chosen.  The  General  Assem- 
bly has  the  sole  power  of  enacting  all  the  state 
laws,  the  assent  or  signature  of  the  Governor  not 
being  necessary  in  any  case  whatever.  An 
elector  must  have  resided  one  year  in  the  state, 
be  21  years  of  age,  and  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States. 

The  judiciary  system  comprises  three  several 
grades  of  courts,  namely,  the  supreme  court, 
courts  of  common  pleas,  and  justices'  courts. 

The  supreme  executive  authority  is  vested  in 
a  Governor  chosen  biennially  by  the  people.  He 
must  be  30  years  of  age,  and  have  resided  in  the 
state  at  least  four  years.  He  is  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  militia,  and  commissions  all  offi- 
cers in  the  state,  both  civil  and  military. 


STATE    OF    OHIO.  57 

The  first  permanent  settlement  in  Ohio,  was 
made  in  1788,  at  Marietta.  In  1802  Ohio  was 
admitted  into  the  Union. 

CINCINNATI,  thejargest  city  in  the  West,  and 
the  seventh  in  point  of  population  in  the  United 
States,  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  north  bank 
of  the  Ohio  river,  on  two  plains,  the  upper  rising 
by  a  steep  ascent,  fifty  feet  above  the  town,  which 
is  elevated  about  sixty  feet  above  the  river  at 
low  water.  The  shores  of  the  Ohio  at  this  point, 
afford  good  landing  for  boats  at  all  seasons  of 
the  year.  The  descent  to  the  river  is  by  a  paved 
area,  at  the  foot  of  which,  steam  vessels  are 
moored,  and  discharge  their  cargoes  on  floating 
wharves,  which  are  rendered  necessary  by  the 
frequent  and  rapid  fluctuation  of  the  river.  The 
city,  except  on  the  margin  of  the  river,  is  laid  out 
by  streets,  crossing  each  other  at  right  angles. 
It  has  many  handsome  public  buildings,  including 
43  churches,  a  considerable  number  of  spacious 
district  school  houses,  &c.  In  1795  it  was  an 
inconsiderable  village,  containing  only  500  in- 
habitants:  in  1810,  2,540;  in  1820,9,642;  in 
1830,  24  831 ;  in  1840,  46,338.  The  number 
now  is  estimated  at  about  100,000.  It  is  distant 
from  Columbus  112  miles  ;  Sandusky  city  200  ; 
Cleveland  250 ;  Indianapolis  120  ;  Frankfort 
85  ;  Nashville  270  ;  Natchez  680  ;  New-Orleans 
860  ;  St.  Louis  350  ;  Louisville  105  ;  Baltimore 
518;  Philadelphia  61 7;  Washington  City  500  ; 
New-York,  via.  Lake  Erie,  900 ;  and  from 
Charleston  600  miles. 

COLUMBUS,  the  capital  of  the  state,  is  situated 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Sciota  river,  immediately 


58  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

below  the  junction  of  Olentangy  or  Whitestone 
river,  142  miles  from  Cleveland,  and  127  from 
Cincinnati.  It  is  regularly  laid  out,  with  streets 
crossing  each  other  at  right  angles.  In  the 
centre  of  the  city  is  a  public  square  of  ten  acres, 
handsomely  inclosed.  A  bridge  across  Sciota 
river  connects  it  with  Franklinton.  Population 
in  1840,  6,048 ;  estimated  now  at  8,000. 

CLEVELAND  is  situated  on  an  elevated  plain  at 
the  entrance  of  Cuyahoga  river,  into  Lake  Erie, 
195  miles  from  Buffalo.  Its  harbor  is  one  of 
the  best  on  the  Lake,  spacious  and  safe.  The 
city  is  regularly  laid  out,  and  near  its  centre  is  a 
large  public  square.  The  bluff  on  which  it  is 
built,  is  80  feet  above  the  level  of  the  lake,  from 
which  an  extensive  and  beautiful  view  is  ob- 
tained, overlooking  the  meanderings  of  the  Cuya- 
hoga, the  shipping  in  the  harbor,  and  the  passing 
vessels  on  the  lake.  Population  in  1840,  6,071 ; 
probably  now  exceeds  10,000. 

F  airfield,  Ashtabula,  Huron,  &,c.,  are  con- 
siderable towns  on  the  lake,  and  have  good  har- 
bors. Sandusky  city  is  also  a  commercial  depot. 
Toledo,  Perrysburg,  Hamilton  and  Dayton,  are 
also  worthy  of  mention.  Springfield  on  Mad 
river,  is  a  rapidly  increasing  manufacturing  and 
commercial  town  ;  and  Zanesville,  Portsmouth, 
Marietta,  Chillicothe,  &/c.,  are  also  flourishing 
places,  and  located  on  the  great  lines  of  com- 
munication. 

Ohio  is  traversed  in  every  direction  by  rail- 
roads and  canals,  and  communicates  hourly  with 
the  south  and  east,  by  means  of  extensive  lines 
of  telegraph. 


ROUTES    IN   OHIO. 


59 


ROUTES  IN  OHIO. 


From   Columbus   to 
mouth. 
To  S.  Bloomiield  
Circlesville  

Pot 

9 
19 
15 

30 

fts- 

17 
26 
45 
60 
90: 

From  Cincinnati  to 
cothe. 
ToMilford  

Ckilli- 

14 
17  31 
35;  66 
32   98 

Favetteville 

Chillicothe  

Kainsboro 

"Waved  v  

Chiilicothe  

Portsmouth   

From  Cincinnati  to  Zan 
ville,  via   CircleviUe. 
To  Montg-omerv  . 

es- 

13 
31 
53 
88 
97 
127 
145 
15  1 

From    Coiumbus    to 
viUe,  Kentucky. 
To  Chillicothe  

Ma 

29 
22 

28 

ys- 

45 
74 
96 
124 

Rochester 

18 
27 
30 
9 
30 
18 
9 

Cvnthiana  

Sabina 

Dunbarton  

\v  illiani^poi't 

Mavsviile   

CircleviUe  

From  Columbus  to  At 
To  Letha  polls.  ...... 

ken 

11 

17 
25 

s. 

17 
28 
45 
70 

Rushville  

Fultonham  

Lancaster  

Zanesv'lle  

Loaran  . 

From  Cincinnati  to  W/H 
ing,  via.  Springfield. 
ToMilford  

>el- 

14 
32 
51 
65 
85 
105 
127 
167 
251 

Athens  

From  Co/  limb  us  to  JVTariet 
To  Zanesville 

f<z. 
54 
81 
101 
122 

Deerlield  

18 
19 
14 
20 

20 
22 
40 

87 

McConnellsville  -. 
Waterford 

27 
20 
21 

Corwin  

Zenia  

Marietta 

Springfield  

Lafayette  

From    Zanesville  to 
land. 
To  f^oshnfton 

Cle 

23 

18 
22 

20 

7 

ye- 

29 
52 
70 
92 
112 
119 

(  'olumLms  

Brownsville  

Milfersbursr  

Wheeling-  

Wooster  

From  Cleveland  to  Toled 
To  Rockport 

0. 

8 
24 
38 
53 
67 
8S 
119 
130 

Medina    ^ 

Parma  

Elvria  

16 
14 
15 
14 
21 
3. 
11 

Cleveland       ..... 

Birmingham 

Milan  

From,   Z'inesville   to 
mile,  Ken'ucky 
To  Somerset  

Ma 

17 
35 

79 

ys- 

19 
36 
71 
150 

Lyme  

Lower   Sandusky. 
Perrysburg  

Lancaster 

{  h  1  1  1  ir*ot  hn 

Toledo  

Mavsville       .    . 

From  Cleveland  to    Cinci 
nati. 
To  Brunswick  

74- 

19 
49 
91 
117 

From  Zanesville  to 
ing. 
To  Cambridge 

Wkt 

28 

22! 

el-  \ 

23 
51 
73 

^W^ooster  .....  .... 

30 
12 

26 

Morristown  

Mount  Vernon  
Sunburv  . 

Wheeling  .  . 

EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 


To  Columbus.  .  .  . 

25  142| 
22161 
20  184 
18202 
33  235 
32  267 

From  Columbus  to  In 
potis,  la. 
To  Lafayette  

diana- 

22 
20   42 
25    67 
26   93 
22115 
20  135 
27  162 
20  182 

Lafayette  .... 

Springfield  .  .  . 

Zenia  

Springfield  

Deerfield  

Dayton 

Cincinnati  

Eaton. 

Centreville  

From  Cleveland  to  Pittsbiu 
Va. 
To  Hudson                    ' 

24 
40 
66 
106 
133 

Lewisville  

Greenfield  

Ravenna  

16 
26 

40 
27 

Indianapolis   

Canfield  

From  Cincinnati  i  o 
land. 
To  Columbus    

Cleve- 

127 

142  -2(19 

Beaver  

Pittsburgh  . 

Cleveland  

From  Cleveland  to  Buffa 
N.  Y. 
Steamboat  to   Ashta- 
bula  -  

lo, 

60 
104 
134 
150 
195 

From  Cincinnati  to 
via.  Dayton. 
To  Hamilton 

Sidney  , 

23 
42   65 
41|106 

To  Erie,  Penn... 

44 
30 
16 
43 

Dayton  

Portland,  N.  Y 
Dunkirk  



Sidney  

From  Cincinnati  to  . 
apolis. 
To  Lawrenceburg,  la. 
Delaware  

ludian- 

22 

21    43 

39    82 
40  122 

Buffalo 

From  Columbus  to 
Va. 
To  Kirkersville.  . 

W/ieelii 

•St 

22 
54 

105 

127 

Shelbyville  

Zanesville  

32 
51 
22 

Indianapolis  

Morristown  .  . 

From  Cincinnati  to  St 
via.  Indianapohi 
|To  Indianapolis  

.Louis, 
'. 
122 
237359 

\Vlieeling    . 

From  Columb  us  to 
Pa. 
To  Brownville  .  . 

Pill 

sbu) 

33 
34 
22 
38 
wlai 

48 
20 
36 
13 

•a-     1 
40 

73 
107 
129 
167 

id. 
25 
73 
93 
129 
142 

St  Louis  

From  Cincinnati  to  j 
ton,  Ky. 

Lexing- 

10 

16  26 
46   72 

12  84 

Cambridge  .  .  . 

Cadiz  

Kteubenville  . 
Pittsburg  

.  .  .  . 

Crittenden  ..  ..... 

From  Columbus  to  Clet 
To  Sunbury  . 

Lexington  

From  Cincinnati  to  i 

Miss. 

\achez, 

1201 

42333 
69402 
So  487 
32519 
49568 
51  619 
41660 

Londonville  .  . 

Wooster  

Strongville  

Columbia 

Cleveland  

Florence  

From,  Columbus  to 
TYi  Norton 

Sandus 

**34 

73 
90 

no 

M  oscow       ...... 

Columbus  -- 

Chatiield 

39 
17 
20 

Louisville  

Shu  man 

Springfield  

Sanduskv  . 

Jackson..       

PORK    TRADE    OF    OHIO. 


61 


Maleven 

Natchez 

From 


70730 
30  760 


Cincinnati  to  Balti- 
more., Md.,  via,  Wlietiing 
and  Cumberland. 
To  Wheeling,  Va... 

Brownsville 

Cumberland 

Hancock 

Martinsburg 

Harpers  Ferry  -- 

Ellicott's  Mills"  .. 

Baltimore   . 


[254 
60  314! 
73387, 
55I4421 
23  465! 


19 
67 


14 


484; 

551! 


565 


From    Cincinnati  to  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. 


To  Wheeling. 
Washington . 
Pittsburgh. . . 


[254 

29:283 

25308 

From    Cincinnati    to    San- 
dusky  City. 
To  Lockport f      i  42 


Zenia 
Springfield 


23   65 

20   851 


Kenton )  57 

Sandusky \  77 

From  Sandusky  to  Buffalo. 

N.  Y. 
Steamboat, 
To  Huron 

Cleveland 

Ashlabula 

Erie,  Penn 

Dunkirk 


47 
60 
44 


46 


142 
219 


10 

57 
117 
161 


207 


45  252 
From,  Sandusky  to  Chicago, 

J-lv* 

Steamboat, 


To  Detroit 


Thunder  Bay  1*1.. 

Hresquelsle 

Marinac 

Manitou  Islands... 
Milwaukie,  Wis.. 
Kacine. . 


Chicago. 


|  75 
222297 
80J377 


65 

103 

150 

25 

70 


442 
545 
695 
720 
790 


THE  PORK  TRADE  OF  OHIO. 

HOGS    SLAUGHTERED  FOR   MARKET   IN   OHIO,  1846-7. 


Places.  Number. 

Cincinnati 300,000 

Columbus 19,000 

Rariesport 4,600 

Lancaster 1,300 

Circleville 19,000 

Chillicothe 40,000 

Bainbridge 1,200 

Baltimore 1.900 

Waverly 4,000 

Portsmouth 1,500 

Ripley 15,200 

Xenia 1.200 

Franklin 2,900 

Piqua 2,000 


Places.  Nvimber. 

Waynesville 9.000 

Hamilton 30,000 

Camden 9,000 

Eaton 1,400 

Clarkesville 6,200 

Ceritreville 1,200 

Dayton 8.000 

Troy. 2,000 

New  Paris 7,000 

Middletown 8,500 

Winchester 1,000 

Bellbrook 3,000 

Lebanon 4,300 

Greenville...          .,,      600 


6 


EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 


THE  STATE  OF  INDIANA. 

Indiana  is  bounded  on, the  north  by  the  Lake 
and  State  of  Michigan  ;  east  by  the  State  of 
Ohio ;  south  by  the  Ohio  river,  which  separates 
it  from  Kentucky,  and  west  by  the  State  of  Il- 
linois. Length  260  miles,  breadth  150  miles ; 
containing  an  area  of  37,800  square  miles.  The 
state. lies  between  37°  45',  and  41°  52',  N.  lat., 
and  between  84°  42',  and  87°  49'  W.  longitude. 

Face  of  the  Country,  fyc. — Indiana  is  in  no 
part  mountainous,  but  that  portion  bordering  on 
the  Ohio,  contains  much  broken,  hilly  land.  The 
interior  parts,  the  valleys  of  the  east  and  west 
forks  of  White  river,  present  a  gentle,  undula- 
ting country,  generally  timbered,  with  occasional 
strips  of  rich  bottom  land  on  the  margin  of  the 
streams.  The  valley  of  the  Wabash,  in  the  lower 
part,  is  an  undulating  surface  of  forest  and  prai- 
rie. North  of  Terre  Haute,  the  land  is  of  the 
first  quality,  fine  forest,  occasionally  opening  into 
beautiful  and  fertile  prairies.  On  the  St.  Jo- 
seph's, and  across  to  the  head  waters  of  the 
Maumee,  are  extensive  wet  and  dry  prairies,  and 
heavily  timbered  lands,  with  a  soil  of  exhaust- 
less  fertility.  On  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan 
are  sand  hills,  and  along  the  Kankakee  ex- 
tensive swamps  and  marshes.  The  kinds  of  tim- 
ber most  abundant,  are,  oaks  of  various  species, 
ash,  beech,  buck-eye,  walnut,  cherry,  sugar-tree, 
hickory,  elm,  sassafras,  honey-locust,  with  some 
cotton-wood,  sycamore,  hackberry  and  mulberry. 
The  principal  productions  are  wheat,  rye,  In- 


STATE    OF    INDIANA.  63 

dian  corn,  oats,  buckwheat,  barley,  potatoes,  and 
all  kinds  of  garden  vegetables. 

Agricultural  Produce,  fyc. — The  quantities 
of  agricultural  produce  raised  in  this  state  in 
1847,  according  to  the  Report  of  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Patents,  exhibits  a  record  of  thrift  sel- 
dom witnessed.  The  crops  in  that  year  were — 
wheat  7,590,000  bushels,  barley  39,000  bushels, 
oats  15,290,000  bushels,  rye  250,000  bushels, 
buckwheat  100,000  bushels,  Indian  corn 
38,000,000  bushels,  potatoes  2,350,000  bushels, 
hay  385,000  tons,  tobacco  3,888,000  pounds, 
silk  cocoons  800  pounds,  and  maple  sugar,  chief- 
ly used  by  the  farmers  as  a  substitute  for  the 
West  India  article,  6,4oO,000  pounds.  When 
we  consider  that  they  were  all  raised  by  a  total 
population  estimated  at  960,000,  it  requires  an 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  capacity  of  the  coun- 
try to  credit  such  an  estimate.  It  is  however 
true,  and  founded  on  the  most  minute  statistical 
information.  These,  indeed,  are  only  the  prin- 
cipal staples,  no  account  being  taken  of  the 
amount  of  fruit,  market  vegetables,  and  numerous 
other  products,  which  are  raised  in  prodigious 
quantities. 

Live,  Stock,  fyc. — The  number  of  horses,  cat- 
tle and  other  live  stock,  is  exhibited  in  the  fol- 
lowing table  :— 260,000  horses,  720,000  neat 
cattle,  780,000  sheep,  1,850,000  swine,  and  poul- 
try to  the  value  of  $420,000. 

In  considering  the  value  of  the  lands  of  this 

t 

state,  we  must  not  alone  look  to  its  productive- 
ness and  the  value  of  its  stock.  Were  these 
confined  to  the  home  markets,  they  could  only 


64  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

have  a  local  value,'  and  could  be  disposed  of  by 
barter  alone.  The  fine  system  of  rivers,  how- 
ever, all  of  which  flow  either  into  Lake  Huron 
or  the  Maumee,  or  into  the  capacious  Ohio,  af- 
ford ample  outlets  for  surplus  produce,  and  con- 
tribute more  to  the  prosperity  of  the  state  than 
all  its  internal  improvements,  (which,  indeed,  are 
merely  auxiliary  to  these  great  highways)  can 
possibly  pretend  to  do. 

Rivers. — The  Ohio  meanders  along  the  entire 
southern  boundary  of  the  state.  The  east  and 
west  forks  of  White  river,  and  their  branches, 
drain  the  interior  counties  for  an  extent  of  200 
miles,  and  are  navigable  for  flat  boats,  during 
the  seasons  of  floods,  a  distance  of  100  miles 
from  their  mouths.  The  Wabash  river  is  navi- 
gable for  steamboats  to  Lafayette.  It  interlocks 
with  the  head  waters  of  the  St.  Joseph's  and  the 
Maumee.  The  main  branch  rises  in  Ohio,  and 
after  a  meandering  course  of  more  than  200 

O 

miles,  becomes  the  boundary  between  the  states 
of  Indiana  and  Illinois,  which  it  forms  for  a  dis- 
tance of  120  miles,  when  it  unites  with  the  Ohio 
river. 

Form  of  Government,  fyc. — The  constitution 
provides,  that  a  census  shall  be  made  every  five 
years,  of  all  free  white  male  inhabitants,  above 
the  age  of  twenty-one  years  ;  and  the  represen- 
tation of  both  houses  of  the  General  Assembly 
is  apportioned  by  such  enumeration,  in  such 
ratio,  that  the  number  of  representatives  shall 
never  be  less  than  36,  nor  exceed  100 ;  and  the 
number  of  senators  not  exceeding  one-half,  nor 
less  than  one-third  the  number  of  representa- 


STATE  OF  INDIANA.  65 

tives.  Every  free  white  male  citizen,  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  who  has  resided  in  the  state  one 
year,  is  entitled  to  vote.  Elections  annually  by 
ballot,  on  the  first  Monday  in  August.  The 
Governor,  Lieutenant  Governor,  and  Senators, 
hold  their  office  for  three  years. 

The  Judiciary  is  vested  in  a  Supreme  Court, 
in  Circuit  Courts,  and  in  such  other  Inferior 
Courts  as  the  General  Assembly  shall,  from  time 
to  time,  direct  and  establish. 

Population,  fyc. — The  increase  of  population 
since  the  early  settlement  of  the  state,  has  been 
surprising  viz  :  in  the  year  1800  it  was  2,641  : 
in  1810,  24,520 ;  in  1820,  147,178  ;  in  1830, 
:i3 1,582;  in  1840,685,866;  and  is  now  esti- 
mated to  be  1,000,000. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  the  capital  of  the  state,  is  situa- 
ted on  the  left  bank  of  the  west  fork  of  White 
river,  at  the  head  of  steamboat  navigation,  and 
1*22  miles  from  Cincinnati.  An  elegant  bridge 
crosses  the  river  at  this  place.  It  was  selected 
for  the  capital  of  the  state  while  it  was  covered 
with  a  dense  forest,  and  laid  out  in  1821.  The 
State  House  is  one  of  the  most  splendid  build- 
ings in  the  West.  It  is  180  feet  long,  by  80  feet 
wide,  and  45  feet  high,  with  an  appropriate  dome. 
It  is  built  after  the  model  of  the  Parthenon  at 
Athens,  with  a  portico  on  each  front,  having  ten 
Doric  columns,  and  has  elegant  halls  for  the  two 

\  '  O 

houses  of  the  legislature, a  courtroom  and  rotunda. 

o  7 

La  Fayette  is  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Wabash  river,  at  the  head  of  steamboat  navigation, 
310  miles  from  its  mouth,  by  the  river.  It  con- 
tains a  court  house,  a  bank,  an  academy,  seven 
churches,  and  about  3,000  inhabitants. 

6* 


66 


EMIGRANT  S  HAND-BOOK. 


ROUTES  IN  INDIANA. 


From  Cola  mkns  to  Nashville. 
ToFeliciana.  ..i      ,23 


Pans 

Waverly  . 
Charlotte  . 
Nashville. 


33   59 
40   99 
2-21-21 
_  38!  159 
From  Hickman  to  Nashvitte. 


Urbana (  46120 

Le  Roy I  37157 

Mackinaw 3519:2 

Peoria..  29212 


To  Dresden. 
Paris 


Nashville   ..100 


3G 

60 
1(30 


From  Indianapoli  s  to  Col  am - 
bus,   Ohio. 


To  Ogden . 
Centreville 

Eaton 

Dayton 

Springfield. 
Columbus  . 


41 

67 


26 


26 

25 140 

42  1S2 


Fromlndianapohs  to  Spring- 
field, III ,  via  Terre  Haute. 

ToBellville j       |  20 

Putnam  ville 22   42 

Terre  Haute i  31    73 

Paris i  20!  93 

Hermitage..  3512s 


Springfield \  70;2iH 


From 


From  Indianapolis  to  Green 
ville,  O. 

To  Mi  11  Creek I  44 

Windsor. 27!  71 

Greenville 

From  Indianapolis  to  Michi- 
gan City. 

To  Burlington.... J  53' 

Logansport 19    72 

Sidney 33105 

Michigan  City. ._._._.  _44l  149 
From  Indianapolis  to  La  Fay  j 
ette. 


Indianapolis 
Louis,  Mo. 

--i,^" To  Terre  Haute 

Grunup 

Vandal  ia 

Collinsville 


St.  Louis 


to     ,V. 

i  73 
45118 

52  170 
51,221 
16j  237 


From  Indianapolis  to  Louis- 
rille*  Ky..  via.  New  Albami. 


^  1  1  no i  To  Bloomington . 

O  1    1_  •  '  —  •»  r  -11 

Maysville 

Paoli 

Palmyra 


To  Jamestown 

Crawfordsville. 
La  Favetle 


17 

28 


28 
45 

7:; 


14 
29 


3(5 

50 
79 


22101 
Louisville i  24125 

From   Indianapolis    to  ~Frc- 
donia. 

To  Paoli 1      j  79 

Vaiene '  10   S'.» 

Fredonia. I  18,107 

i 

From  Indianapolis  to  Madi- 
son. 


From  Indianapolis  to  St.  Jo- 
Mich. 

1113: 
21  137 
37  17  1 


To  Plymouth 

South  Bend 

St.  Joseph's 

From  Indianapolis  toPeoria, 


To  Columbus 

Seipio 


Madison 
From   Indianapolis  to 


28, 


41 
55 
83 


Cin- 
cinnati, via.  Napoleon. 


III. 

To  Crawfordsville 

Coving-ton |  29 


45 

74, 


To  Shelbyville. 

Napoleon 

Manchester.. 
Cincinnati. . 


40 

33   7:; 
17   90 


PORK   TRADE    OF    INDIANNA. 


67 


From   Indianapolis   to  C 
cinnati,  via.  Brookville, 
To  Kii^hvil'e 

in- 

40 
69 

87 
105 

Ttfilford      

50  22-2 
46268 
30298 
17,315 
23|338 

Kockville   

Joliet  

Brookville 

29 

IS 
18 

Pes  Plaines  

Harrison.  Ohio  
Cincinnati      

Chicago  

From  month  of  the 
to  La  Fayette. 
To  Grand  Chain  

^Vabash 

29 
63   9o 
33125 
862ii 
36217 

37284 
261310 

to  Cin- 
apolis. 
36 
41   77 
52  J29 
20  149 
105,254 

From  Madison  to   India1) 
p  .Us. 
To  Columbus        .    .   . 

ta- 

42 

63 
1  83 

ns- 

30 
54 
120 

212 

239 

Grand  Rapids  

Franklin 

21 

20 

Vincenn  s  

Indianapolis 

Terre  Haute  

West  port  

From  Evans'Vtlh  to  Loga 
port. 

Tr»  Prirw^ptnn 

\ViiUamsport  

La  Fayette  

Vincennes  

24 
66 

40 
27 
12 

From  Michigan  City 
cinnati,  via.  Indian 
>To  Plymouth  

Terre  Haute  

Covington 

La  Fayette 

Logansport  

Lockport 

Northtield  

Logan  sport 

Indianapolis  

Cincinnati  ........ 

Fro-lit  jEvaitiicille  to  Chicago 
To  Covingtou  1    1 

III 
172 

THE  PORK  TRADE  OF  INDIANA. 

HOGS    SLAUGHTERED   FOR   MARKET,   IN    1846-7. 


Places. 


Number.  \  Places. 


Number. 


Uichinond, 1,100  \  Lagree 1,000 


Madison,  ..........  63.000 

Lafayette,  .........  15,000 

Lawrenceburg,  ----  10,000 

Connorsvilie  .......  7,000 


Fort  Wayne 2,000 

Covington 6,000 

Eugene 6.000 

Attica 3,500 

Dupin 6,000 

Terre  Haute..  20.000 


Evansville  .........     7,000 

Laurel  ............      8,000 

Brookville  .........     6,000 

The  above  statistics  are  taken  from  the  "  St. 
Louis  Republican  and  Western  Journal  '  They 
are  of  inestimable  value.  How  inexhaustible  is 
our  great  West  ! 


68  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 


STATE  OF  ILLINOIS. 

Illinois  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  State 
of  Wisconsin,  east  by  Lake  Michigan  and  In- 
diana, south-east  and  south  by  the  Ohio  river, 
which  separates  it  from  Kentucky,  and  west  by 
the  Mississippi,  which  flows  from  north  south- 
ward between  it  and  the  states  of  Iowa  and  Mis- 
souri. Its  geographical  position  is  between  37° 
and  42°  30'  N.  latitude,  and  87°  and  92°  W. 
longitude.  In  extreme  length  it  is  378  miles, 
and  width  210  miles,  containing  an  area  of  about 
55,000  square  miles.  The  population  in  1840 
was  478,183;  in  1845,  (>43,48'2,  and  at  the  pre- 
sent time,  it  is  estimated  at  735,000. 

Face  of  the  Country,  fyc. — The  surface  is 
generally  level ;  the  southern  and  northern  parts 
of  the  state  are  somewhat  broken  and  hilly,  but 
no  where  rising  to  an4  elevation  deserving  the 
name  of  a  mountain.  That  portion  of  the  state, 
south  of  a  line  from  the  mouth  of  the  W  abash 
to  .the  m,outh  of  the  Kaskaskia,  is  mostly  covered 
with  timber  ;  thence  northward,  prairie  predomi- 
nates. "  The  eye  sometimes  wanders  over  im- 
mense plains,  covered  with  grass,  finding  no 
limit  to  its  vision  but  the  distant  horizon  ;  while 
more  frequently  it  wanders  from  grove  to  grove, 
arid  from  one  point  of  woodland  to  another, 
charmed  and  refreshed  by  an  endless  variety  of 
scenic  beauty."  A  range  of  bluffs  commences 
on  the  margin  of  the  Mississippi,  (a  short  dis- 
tance above  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,)  and  extends 
north  of  the  Des  Moines  Rapids,  sometimes 
rising  abruptly  from  the  water's  edge,  but  most 


STATE  OF  ILLINOIS.  69 

generally  at  a  few  miles  distance,  having,  be- 
tween the  bluffs  and  the  river,  a  strip  of  alluvial 
formation,  of  most  exhaustless  fertility.  The 
soil  throughout  the  state  is  generally  very  fertile. 
The  forest  trees  most  abundant,  are  oak  of  dif- 
ferent species,  walnut,  ash,  elm,  sugar  maple,  lo- 
cust, hackberry,  buckeye,  sycamore,  &,c.  Lead 
is  a  very  important  mineral  production  of  this 
state  ;  copper  and  iron  ores  exist.  Coal  abounds 
in  the  bluffs ;  several  fine  salt  springs  exist  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  state.  Vegetable  pro- 
ductions are  Indian  corn,  wheat,  rye,  oats,  buck- 
wheat, potatoes,  turnips,  cotton,  hemp,  flax,  to- 
bacco, castor  bean,  &c. 

A  large  part,  probably  two-thirds  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  state,  is  covered  with  prairies.  A 
common  error  _has  prevailed  abroad,  that  our 
prairie  land  is  wet.  Much  of  it  is  undulating 
and  entirely  dry.  Prairie  is  a  French  word, 
signifying  meadow,  and  ,is  applied  to  any  de- 
scription of  surface  that  is  destitute  of  timber 
and  brushwood,  and  clothed  with  grass.  Wet, 
dry,  level,  and  undulating,  are  terms  of  descrip- 
tion merely,  and  apply  to  prairies  in  the  same 
sense  as  they  do  to  forest  lands. 

Levc.l  prairie  is  sometimes  wet,  the  water  not 
running  off  freely  is  left  to  be  absorbed  by  the 
soil,  or  evaporated  by  the  sun.  Crawfish  throw 
up  their  hillocks  in  this  soil,  and  the  farmer  who 
cultivates  it,  will  find  his  labors  impeded  by  the 
water. 

In  the  southern  part,  that  is,  south  of  the 
national  road,  leading  from  Terre  Haute  to  the 

^f 

Mississippi,  the  prairies  are  comparatively  small, 


70  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

varying  in  size  from  those  of  several  miles  in 
width,  to  those  which  contain  only  a  few  acres. 
As  we  go  northward,  they  widen  arid  extend  on 
the  more  elevated  ground  between  the  water 
courses  to  a  vast  distance,  and  are  frequently 
from  six  to  twelve  miles  in  width.  Their  bor- 
ders are  by  no  means  uniform.  Long  points  of 
timber  project  into  the  prairies,  and  line  the 
banks  of  the  stream,  and  points  of  prairie  pro- 
ject into  the  timber  between  these  streams.  In 
many  instances  are  copses  and  groves  of  timber, 
from  one  hundred  to  two  thousand  acres,  in  the 
midst  of  prairies,  like  islands  in  the  oceun.  This 
is  a  common  feature  in  the  country,  between  the 
Sangamon  river  and  Lake  Michigan,  and  in  the 
southern  parts  of  the  state.  The  lead  mine  re- 
gion, both  in  this  state  and  the  Wisconsin  Ter- 
ritory, abounds  with  these  groves. 

The  origin  of  these  prairies  has  caused 
much  speculation.  We  might  as  well  dispute 
about  the  origin  of  forests,  upon  the  assumption 
that  the  natural  covering  of  the  earth  was  grass. 
Probably  one-half  of  the  earth's  surface,  in  a 
state  of  nature,  was  prairies  or  barrens.  Much 
of  it,  like  our  western  prairies,  was  covered  with 
a  luxuriant  coat  of  grass  and  herbage.  The 
steppzs  of  Tartary,  the  pampas  of  South  Ame- 
rica, the  savannas  of  the  southern,  and  the 
prairies  of  the  western  states,  designate  similar 
tracts  of  country.  Mesopotamia,  Syria,  and  Ju- 
dea,  had  their  ancient  prairies,  on  which  the 
patriarchs  fed  their  flocks.  Missionaries  in  Bur- 
mah,  and  travellers  in  the  interior  of  Africa, 
mention  the  same  description  of  country.  Where 


STATE  OF  ILLINOIS.  71 

the  tough  sward  of  the  prairie  is  once  formed, 
timber  will  not  take  root.  Destroy  this  by  the 
plow,  or  by  any  other  method,  and  it  is  soon 
converted  into  forest  land.  There  are  large 
tracts  of  country  in  the  older  settlements,  where, 
thirty  or  forty  years  since,  the  farmers  mowed 
their  hav,  that  are  now  covered  with  a  forest  of 

•/   * 

young  timber  of  rapid  growth. 

The  fire  annually  sweeps  over  the  prairies, 
destroying  the  grass  and  herbage,  blackening  the 
surface,  and  leaving  a  deposit  of  avshes  to  en- 
rich the  soil. 

It  is  evident  to  those  who,  for  a  series  of 
years,  have  observed  the  changes  upon  prairie 
land,  that  they  were  never  caused,  nor  are  they 
perpetuated  by  these  sweeping  autumnal  firesv 
The  writer  has  known  a  tract  of  prairie  en- 
closed, and  preserved  from  the  ravages  of  fire 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  still  retain,  as  if 
with  determined  tenacity,  its  distinctive  charac- 
ter. Not  a  shrub  or  bush  appeared.  Brush- 
wood and  timber  will  not  grow  as  long  as  its  ad- 
hc.sive  sward  remains  unbroken.  The  prairie 
grass  must  be  destroyed  before  timber  will  take 
root.  Tlys  fact  is  well  known  to  the  old  in- 
habitants of  the  country,  and  is  worth  a  thousand 
speculations  of  recent  emigrants  or  casual  tour* 
ists. 

Extensive  prairies  existed  in  the  Atlantic 
states  at  the  period  of  the  first  visits  of  Euro- 
peans. Captain  John  Smith  noticed  them  when 
he  visited  the  Chesapeake.  The  late  Mungo 
Park  describes  the  annual  burning  of  the  plains 
of  Mandingo  in  Western  Africa,  in  the  same 


72  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

manner  as  one  would  describe  the  prairie  fires 
of  the  Western  States.  The  writer  is  acquainted 
with  thousands  of  acres,  now  covered  with  a 
thick  growth  of  young  timber,  that  since  his 
residence  in  the  country  have  been  changed  from 
prairie.  Invariably  the  grass  and  sward  were 
first  destroyed. 

Barrens. — This  term,  in  the  western  dia- 
lect, does  not  indicate  poor  land,  but  a  species 
of  surface  of  a  mixed  character,  uniting  forest 
and  prairie.  These  are  called  "  openings "  in 
Michigan  and  Northern  Illinois. 

The  timber  is  generally  scattering,  of  a 
rough  and  stunted  appearance,  interspersed  with 
patches  of  hazel  and  brushwood,  and  where  the 
contest  between  the  fire  and  timber  is  kept  up, 
each  striving  for  the  mastery. 

In  the  early  settlements  of  Kentucky,  much 
of  the  country  below  and  south  of  Green  river 
presented  a  dwarfish  and  stunted  growth  of  tim- 
ber, scattered  over  the  surface,  or  collected  in 
clumps,  with  hazel  and  shrubbery  intermixed. 
This  appearance  led  the  first  explorers  to  the  in- 
ference that  the  soil  itself  must  necessarily  be 
poor,  to  produce  so  scanty  a  growth  of  timber, 
and  they  gave  the  name  of  barrens  to  the  whole 
tract  of  country.  Long  since  it  has  been  ascer- 
tained, that  this  description  of  land  is  amongst 
the  most  productive  soil  in  the  state.  The  term 
barren  has  since  received  a  very  extensive  appli- 
cation throughout  the  west.  Like  all  other  tracts 
of  country,  the  barrens  present  a  considerable 
diversity  of  soil.  In  general,  however,  the  sur- 
face is  more  uneven  or  rolling  than  the  prairies, 


STATE  OF  ILLINOIS.  73 

n,nd  sooner  degenerates  into  ravines  and  sink- 

o 

holes.  Wherever  timber  barely  sufficient  for 
present  purposes  can  be  found,  a  person  need  not 
hesitate  to  settle  in  the  barrens.  These  tracts 
are  almost  invariably  healthy  ;  they  possess  a 
greater  abundance  of  pure  springs  of  water,  and 
the  soil  is  better  adapted  for  all  kinds  of  produce, 
and  all  descriptions  of  seasons,  wet  and  dry,  than 
the  deeper  and  richer  mould  of  the  bottoms  and 
prairies. 

When  the  fires  are  stopped,  these  barrens  pro- 
duce timber,  at  a  rate  of  which  no  northern  emi- 
grant can  have  any  just  conception.  Dwarfish 
shrubs,  and  small  trees  of  oak  and  hickory  are 
scattered  over  the  surface,  where  for  years  they 
have  contended  with  the  fires  for  a  precarious 
existence,  while  a  mass  of  roots,  sufficient  for 
the  support  of  large  trees,  have  accumulated  in 
the  earth.  Soon  as  they  are  protected  from  the 
ravages  of  the  animal  fires,  'the  more  thrifty 
sprouts  shoot  forth,  and  in  ten  years  are  large 
enough  for  corn  cribs  and  stables. 

As  the  fires  on  the  prairies  become  stopped 
by  the  surrounding  settlements,  and  the  wild 
grass  is  eaten  out  and  trodden  down  by  the 
stock,  they  begin  to  assume  the  character  of 
barrens  ;  first  hazel  and  other  shrubs,  and  finally, 
a  thicket  of  young  timber,  covers  the  surface. 

Agricultural  Products,  fyc. — The  productions 
of  Illinois,  in  reference  to  its  population,  is 
equally  great  with  that  of  the  other  Western 
states.  The  mining  and  other  interests,  how- 

O  ' 

ever,  divert   a  large  portion  of  the  people   from 
the  more  valuable,  but  le^s  lucrative   occupation 

7 


74  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

of  agriculture ;  and  grazing  is  more  attended 
to  than  in  most  other  states.  The  estimated 
crops  of  1847  were  as  follows  :  Wheat  4,900,000 
bushels,  barley  116,000  bushels,  oats  4,200,000 
bushels,  rye  155,000  bushels,  buckwheat  120,000 
bushels,  Indian  corn  33,000,000  bushels,  pota- 
toes 2,100,000  bushels,  hay  365,000  tons,  to- 
bacco 1,288,000  pounds,  rice  7,500  pounds,  silk 
cocoons  3,200  pounds,  and  maple  sug'ar  615,000 
pounds.  The  value  of  fruit  and  vegetables  is 
immense,  but  has  not  been  computed. 

Live  Stock,  fyc. — -The  number  of  horses  and 
mules  in  the  state,  is  210,000,  of  neat  cattle 
670,000,  of  sheep  430,000,  of  swine  1,650,000, 
and  the  value  of  poultry  $420,000.  The  pro- 
ducts of  the  dairy  are  about  half  a  million  of 
dollars  in  yearly  value.  There  are  about  215,000 
persons  employed  in  agricultural  industry. 

Rivers. — The  Mississippi,  Ohio  and  Wabash 
rivers  form  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  boundary 
of  the  state.  The  Bi<r  Muddv,  Kaskaskia,  II- 

o  -    ' 

linois  and  Rock  rivers,  and  many  smaller 
streams,  empty  themselves  into  the  Mississippi 
river.  Chicago  river  empties  into  Lake  Michi- 
gan. Vermillion,  Embarras  and  Little  Wabash 
into  the  Wabash,  and  Saline  and  Big  Bay  creeks 
into  the  Ohio  river. 

Form  of  Government,  fyc. — The  powers  of 
government  are  divided  into  three  distinct  de- 

«5 

pirtments — the  legislative,  executive  and  judi- 
ciary. The  legislative  authority  is  vested  in  a 
general  assembly,  consisting  of  a  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives.  Elections  are  held 
biennially,  as  are  the  ordinary  sessions  of  the 
legislature.  Senators  are  elected  for  four  years. 


STATE  OF  ILLINOIS.  75 

The  executive  power  is  vested  in  the  governor, 
tvho  is  elected  every  fourth  year  by  the  electors 
for  representatives  ;  but  the  same  person  is  ineli- 
gible for  the  next  succeeding  four  years. 

The  judicial  power  is  vested  in  a  supreme 
sourt,  and  such  inferior  courts  as  the  general 
issemblv  shall  from  time  to  time  establish. 

j 

The  right  of  suffrage  is  universal.  All  white 
nale  inhabitants,  twenty-one  years  of  age,  who 
:iave  resided  within  the  state  six  months  prece- 
iing  the  elections,  enjoy  the  right  of  electors. 

CHICAGO  is  situated  on  the  north-west  shore 
)f  Lake  Michigan,  at  the  head  of  lake  nuvigu- 
;ion.  The  city  is  built  on  a  level  prairie,  hand- 
somely elevated  above  the  water,  and  lies  on  both 
sides  of  Chicago  river,  between  the  junction  of 
he  north  and  south  branches,  and  three-fourths 
>f  a  mile  from  its  entrance  into  the  lake.  By 
he  construction  of  piers,  an  artificial  harbor  has 
>een  made  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  The  city 
contains  the  county  buildings,  a  United  States 
Land  Office,  eight  churches,  an  academy,  and 
[(3,000  inhabitants.  Back  of  the  town,  for  three 
>r  four  miles,  is  a  fine,  elevated,  and  fertile  prai- 
ie,  and  to  the  north,  along  the  lake  shore,  are 
extensive  bodies  of  fine  timber.  Numerous 
teamboats  and  vessels  ply  between  this  place 
ind  Buffalo,  and  the  intermediate  places  on  the 
ipper  lakes.  It  is  admirably  situated  for  trade, 
md  is  rapidly  increasing  in  population  and 
wealth. 

SPRINGFIELD,  the  capital  of  the  state,  is  situ- 
ated on  the  border  of  a  beautiful  plain,  four 
ailes  south  of  the  Sangamon  river,  and  very  near 


76  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

the  centre  of  the  state.  In  1823  it  contained 
about  31)  families,  living  in  small  log-cabins. 
There  are  now  many  handsome  public  buildings, 
including  the  cupitol,  an  elegant  edifice  of  hewn 
stone,  and  has  a  population  of  about  5,000.  It  is 
in  the  county  of  Sangamon,  which  is  said  to  con- 
tain a  larger  quantity  of  rich  land,  in  proportion 
to  its  extent,  than  any  other  county  in  the  state, 
and  therefore  can  maintain  a  larger  agricultural 
population,  which  is  the  great  basis  of  national 
wealth. 

The  following  description  of  the  Michigan 
and  Illinois  Canal,  from  the  "  Chicago  Journal" 
gives  an  interesting  view  of  the  future  prospects 
of  this  important  enterprise ;  the  value  of  which, 
not  only  to  Illinois,  but  to  other  states  of  the 
Union,  cannot  be  over-estimated  : 

"  The  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  connects 
Lake  Michigan,  at  Chicago,  with  the  Illinois 
river  at  La  Salle.  This  last  named  point  is  usu- 
ally considered  to  be  the  head  of  steamboat  na- 
vigation on  the  Illinois,  although  boats  do  occa- 
sionally pass  further  up  the  stream,  in  times  of 
hi nli  water.  La  Salle  is  212  miles  above  the 

O 

mouth  of  the  Illinois,  250  miles  above  St.  Louis, 
and  about  1530  miles  above  New-Orleans. 

The  construction  of  the  canal  was  commenc- 
ed in  1830,  and  continued  until  the  close  of  1842, 
when,  for  the  want  of  adequate  funds  to  prose- 
cute the  work,  operations  were  brought  to  a  close  ; 
at  that  period  about  $5,000,000  had  been  ex- 
pended ;  the  entire  cost  upon  the  modified  plan 
is  about  six  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars.  It 
was  at  this  juncture  that  the  State  of  Illinois  ia 


STATE    OF    ILLINOIS. 


order  to  secure   a  loan   of  rnonev   sufficient  to 

y 

complete  the  canal  upon  a  modified  and  less  ex- 
pensive plan  of  construction,  offered  to  pledge 
the  canal  and  all  its  works,  together  with  some 
230,000  acres  of  canal  lands,  to  such  of  her 
creditors  as  would  come  forward  and  advance  a 
sum  sufficient  to  complete  the  work  in  the  modi- 
fied form,  the  estimated  cost  of  which  was  set 
down  at  $1,630,000.  As  an  additional  induce- 
ment for  the  creditors  to  come  forward  and 
furnish  this  sum,  the  state  agreed  to  re- 
gister bonds  of  the  subscribers  to  the  loan  to 
an  extent  equal  to  twice  and  a  half  the  amount 
they  might  subscribe,  and  to  secure  to  such  sub- 
scribers priority  of  payment  of  said  registered 
bonds,  both  interest  and  principal  ;  and  for  the 
security  thereof,  the  canal,  lands,  &>c.,  were,  by 
the  law  authorising  this  measure,  to  be  placed  in 
the  hands  of  three  trustees,  two  acting  for  the 
bondholders  or  subscribers  to  the  loan,  and  one 
for  the  state. 

Upon  this  proposition  several  of  the  large 
holders  of  bonds  in  Europe  caused  the  canal, 
and  all  its  affairs,  to  be  examined  by  two  agents, 
appointed  by  them  for  that  purpose ;  and  upon 
receiving  from  the  agents  thus  appointed,  satis- 
factory evidence  that  the  property  offered  as  se- 
curity for  the  loan  might  be  considered  sufficient 
to  reimburse  the  same,  principal  and  interest, 
they,  together  with  a  large  number  of  the  Ame- 
rican bondholders,  agreed' to  furnish  the  sum 

7          O 

named  as  necessary  to  complete  the  canal — 
$1,600,000. 

7* 


78  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

The  239,000  acres  of  land  spoken  of,  con- 
stitute about  four-fifths  of  the  entire  quantity 
which  the  general  government  granted  to  the 
State  of  Illinois  in  1827,  to  aid  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  canal.  These  lands  lie  on  both  sides 
of  the  canal,  and  within  three  miles  of  it,  in  al- 
ternate sections  of  640  acres  each ;  all  the  resi- 
due, or  the  intervening  sections,  having  been 
sold  by  the  United  States,  and  much  of  it,  as 
well  as  50,000  acres  of  the  donation  made  to  Il- 
linois, sold  by  the  state,  settled  upon  and  culti- 
vated. That  which  remains  unsold,  now  known 
as  canal  lands,  has  been  greatly  enhanced  in 
value  by  the  proximity  of  the  surrounding  im- 
proved lands.  As  the  law  which  authorised  the 
loan  of  $1,090,000,  required  these  239,000 
acres  to  be  brought  to  sale  within  three  months 
after  the  completion  of  the  canal,  they  will 
soon  be  brought  into  the  market  for  sale, 
affording  an  excellent  opportunity  for  those  who 
desire  to  become  inhabitants  of  one  of  the  most 
important,  thriving,  and  rapidly  improving  states 
in  the  West. 

Since  the  opening  of  the  canal,  business  along 
the  line  has  been  exceedingly  active.  Freight 
boats  and  passenger  boats  are  running  back  and 
forth  continually  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  but 
that  the  revenue  from  this  vyork,  the  first  year  of 
its  operation,  which  can  be  but  partial, -on  ac- 
count of  the  short  supply  of  boats,  will  exceed 
the  anticipations  of  all.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
important  works  of  the  kind  in  the  western 
country  ;  it  furnishes  the  most  expeditious  route 


STATE    OF   ILLINOIS.  79 

from  the  Mississippi  river  to  the  lakes,  and  it  is 
impossible  to  estimate  the  extent  of  its  maximum 
business. 

One  great  article  of  trade  upon  this  canal  will, 
without  doubt,  be  the  coal  of  the  Illinois  valley, 
both  for  the  use  of  the  steamers  on  the  lakes, 
•ind  for  domestic  purposes.  Five  years  ago 
(1842)  80,009  bushels  of  coal  only  were  brought 
to  Cleveland;  but  last  year  (Itf4?)  2,000,000 
bushels  were  sold  there.  The  steamboats  prefer 
it,  at  the  price  of  $2  50  to  $3  per  ton,  because 
it  requires  so  much  less  room,  is  handled  with 
less  labor,  and  generates  as  much  steam  per  ton 
as  two  cords  of  wood  will  generate.  Wood,  per 
cord,  costs  about  the  same  as  a  half  ton  of  coal. 

Lumber,  from  the  lake  to  the  Mississippi,  is 
to  be  a  great  article  of  trade  also.  Corn,  which 

O  ' 

can  be  and  is  raised  in  great  abundance  on  the 
Illinois  river,  can  be  supplied  at  a  profit  to  the 
grower,  and  delivered  on  the  bank  of  the  river 
for  twelve  and  a  half  cents  per  bushel.  This 
will  be  put  in  canal  boats  in  bulk,  and,  by  means 
of  the  steamers,  tugged  to  the  canal,  and  thence 
to  Chicago,  where  this  corn  will  be  put  on  board 
the  large  propellers  and  sent  direct  to  the  St. 
Lawrence  through  the  Welland  canal,  and  thence 
shipped  to  England.  The  first  cost  being  light, 
and  the  transportation  being  entirely  by  water,  it 
can  be  carried  a  great  distance  with  profit  to  the 
buyer.  Pork  and  beef,  also,  which  hitherto  has 
been  sent  to  Chicago  on  the  hoof,  for  slaughter, 
will  be  packed  on  the  river,  and  sent  by  the  canal 
to  Chicago,  while  salt  for  the  same  will  be  sent 
from  the  lake,  through  the  canal,  to  immense 


80  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

slaughtering  establishments,  similar  to  those 
which  we  see  described  in  the  Western  ne\vs 
papers.  All  the  staple  productions  of  the  countn 
on  the  Illinois,  and  on  the  Upper  Mississippi,  wil 
find  their  way  through  this  canal." 

This  canal  is  a  work  of  the  first  class,  anc 
both  in  character  of  its  workmanship,  and  poin 
of  capacity,  will  bear  advantageous  comparisoi 
with  any  canal  of  equal  length  in  the  Unitec 
States.  It  is  GO  feet  wide  at  the  surface,  36  a 
the  bottom,  and  6  feet  deep.  The  locks  are  1* 
in  number,  and  of  the  same  size  as  those  of  tru 
"enlarged  Erie" — designed  for  boats  carrying 
from  100  to  120  tons.  The  locks,  dams,  piers 
and  abutments  of  the  aqueducts  and  bridges  an 
of  the  best  description  of  hammered  masonry 
The  bridges  over  the  canal,  of  which  there  arc 
some  25  or  30,  are  of  the  kind  known  a: 
"  Home's  patent/'  having  spans  of  70  feet  anc 
upwards,  and  elevated  ten  feet  above  the  deck* 
of  the  boats.  The  trunks  of  the  aqueducts  are 
supported  by  trussed  frames  of  oak,  constructed 
upon  the  same  principle  as  the  bridges. 

The  towns  of  Illinois,  otherwise  than  those 
already  noticed,  are  small,  but  some  of  them  are 
rapidly  growing  into  importance.  Along  the 
Ohio  are  Shawneetown,  Golconda,  Napoleon, 
Trinity  and  Cairo  ;  along  the  Mississippi,  down- 
wards, Galena,  Rockport,  Commerce,  Warsaw. 
&,c.  ;  on  the  Illinois,  Ottawa,  Peoria,  Beards- 
town,  Carrolton,  Augusts,  &c.  ;  on  the  Wabash. 
Darwin,  Palestine,  Mt.  Carmel,  &c. ;  and  Ore- 
gon City,  &c.,  on  Rock  river.  Besides  these,  are 
a  large  number  of  thriving  villages  in  the  state. 


ROUTES    IN    ILLINOIS. 


81 


ROUTES  IN  ILLINOIS, 


FramShawneeto  wn  to  Spring- 
field. 

To  Duncanton |        23 

Mount  Vernon '43  661 

Salem '  92  88 

Zanesville 78166; 

Spnn-field 38201 


From  S/tawneftoiv/t   to  St. 
Louis. 


ToGallatiu... 

Nashville. 
Belleville. 
St.  Louis. . 


07 


32 

99  i 


36  135 
J.5150 
From  Golconda  to  St.  Louis 

To  Sar,dm!le 

Frankfort 

St.  Louis 


From,  Springfield  to  Galena, 

via.  Peoria. 
To  Peoria 

Providence 

Scot  sville 

Buffalo  Grove... 

Galena. . 


70 

44  114 
35  149 

24  173 

5_7230 

From   Springfield  to  Lewis- 
t»wn. 

21 


To  Petersburgh 

Havanna. . 


Lewistown 10 


24   45 


55 


34 

21 
101155 


From  Shawneetowii  to  Cape 
Giradcau. 


From  Springfield  to  Qitincy. 
To  Berlin 

Jacksonville 

Meridosia , 

Mount  Sterling... 

Columbus 

Quincy 


To  Vienna... 
Jonesboro' 


Cape  Giradeau..  .. 


2-2 


47 
69 


14 

33 
53 

19!  72 
21  (JO 
15111 


19 
20 


24J_93J 


From  K'iskaskiato  Vinceunes. 


To  Nashville 1 

Salem..  i29 


41 

70 


Maysville 26100 

Vincennes..  5610-2 


Fr:nn  Alton  to  Jacksonville. 


To  Fayette . . 
Athensville. . 
Jacksonville. 


11 
20 


32 
43 
63 


Frot/i  Spring  field  to  Chicago, 
via.  Peoria. 

To  Middletown I  ,20 

Tremoat j  37  57 

Peoria i  13  70 

Chillicothe j  18  88! 

La  Salic !  46  l-'M 

Ottawa 15111) 

Joliet 43)192 

Des  Plaines 17,-JO!) 

Chicago 


From  Springfield  to  Bur/i.ng- 
ton,  la.,  via.  Jacksonville. 

\  33 
21'  57 
39l  96 
39.135 


To  Jacksonville 
Beardstown 
Macomb  ____ 
Burlington.. 
From  Sprin 


To  Rushville. 

Pulaski 

Carthage 

Nauvoo 

Fort  Madison. 


field  to  •  Fort 
la.,  via.  Nauvoo, 


25 


69 
94 
2H115 
18  133 
10  143 


From  S 

To  Auburn 

Carlinville 

Lincoln  

Edwardsville 

St.  Louis.. 


St.  Lou/'s 
15 


24 
2~0 
15 

21 


39 
59 
74 
95 


From   Spnngfield  to    S/tau>- 
neetown. 

ToL'incsville  j     |  38 

Hillsboru'.  126   64 


EMIGRANT  S  HAND-BOOK. 


Vandalia  . 

27 
25 
22 
43 
23 
Cin 
olis 

50 
28 
36 
20 
31 
22 
20 
105 

l^Oj 

50 

22 
34 
55 

91 

116 
138 
181 
204 

fin- 

JO 
60 
88 
124 
144 
175 
197 
217 

322 
/. 
fay- 

15 

65 
81 

121 
L76 

Delevan  

1  2  25 
45   70 
95  165 

t  alem. 

Springfield  

Jv'ourit  Vernoii  
Duncanton  

St.  Louis  

From  Chicago  a.  Mai  Us 
Wisconsin. 
To  Rockford  

'JU 

85 
102 
118 
159 

kie, 

16 
32 

61 
72 

97 

Shawneetown  
From  Springfield  to 
nati,  via    Indiana^ 
To  Rochester. 

Picatonica 

17 
16 
41 

Janesville  

Phelbyville  

Madison  

Bethsaida  

From  Chicago  to  Milwati 
Wisconsin. 
To  Wheeling 

Paris  

Terre  Haute  

Putnamville  

Abinglon 

16 
29 
11 

25 

Belleville  

South  port 

Indianapolis  

Racine 

Cincinnati  

Milwaukee  

Frcm    Spring  ji  eld  to 
ette,  la. 
To  Mechanics  burgh.. 
Montieello  

From  Chicago  to  Prairie 
Clicne,  via.  Galena. 
To  Cazenovia  

Du 

11 
41 
59 
tfS 

112 
158 
202 
229 

Udina 

30 

18 
24 
27 
46 
44 
27 

Urbana  

]Ylarenoro 

]  /anvil  le  

](  ochtord 

Lafayette  

Freeport  

From  J,  i  cksonville  to  Si 
To  Williamsburg  
Manchester  

u  Lc 

10 
18 
33 
24 

10 
20 

3S 
71 
95 

Galena  

Cassville.  ........ 

Prairie  du  Chene  .. 

Carrolton  

From  Chicago  to  Rock  Isla 
via.  Dixon. 
To  Brush  Hill 

•ltd, 

18 
28 
50 
106 
130 
174 
uist 
eld. 

40 
83 

98 
113 
117 
162 
175 
212 
232 
327 

Alton  

St.  Louis  

From  Peoria  to  Galena. 
To  N.  Hampton  20 

NapinvilltJ  ....... 

10 
22 
56 
24 
11 

Providence  

24 
35, 
24 

17 
2.7 

15; 

44 
79 
103 
120 
145 
160 
m, 

It 
35 
45 
66 
94 

I  \ivon 

Scottsvil'e  

Lyndon 

Buffalo  Grove  
Cherry  Grove  

Rock  ["land  

From    Chicago  to  St 
via.  Pt'oria  and  Spri 
To  Pes  Plaines  

Lo 
»£./' 

17 
43 
15 
15 

34 
15 
13 

39 
20 
95 

Apple  River 

Galena  

From,  Peoria  to  Bartingtt 
la. 
To  Robin's  Nest  i 

Joliet  

Ottawa  

La  Stille  .. 

Trenton  

21 
11 
21 

28 

Hennipin   .  — 
Pome  

Knox  Court  House 
Wonmouth  

PC  on  a 

Burlington,  la  

Tremont  

From  Peoria  to  Ft.  i 
To  Pekin  1. 

jO-ll'i 

5 

s. 

c 

13 

Middlctown 

i"  pringfield  

Tremont  . 

St.  Louis.. 

ROUTES    IN    ILLINOIS. 


From    Chicago  to 

.     town. 
ToDesPlaines 

Joliet 

Roelcville 

Iroquois 

Danville 

Paris 

York 

Russelville 

Viiicennes. 

Mount  Carmel 

Carmi 

Sliawneetown  — 


Shawiiee- 


\  23 
17  10 
-30  70 
31101 
50151 
38192 
35  227 
23  255 
10  265 
29  294 
35  329 
31360 


From  Chicago  to  Detroit. 

To  falumet 12 

Michigan  City 41   53 

Niles 44   97 

Mottsville 

Freedom 

Cold  water 

Moscow 

Cambridge 

Ypsilanti 

Detroit.. 


28  125 
23  148 

21  169 

22  191 
22213 
36249 
30279 


From  Galena  to  Chicago,  via. 

Rock-ford. 
To  Burr  Oak  Grove.. 


Vanceburg. 
B<>lvidere. . 

LTdina 

Chicago ... 


28 
26 
30 


61 

87 

117 


41158 


Prom  Galena  to  JXLadisoJi. 


To  Mineral  Point 

Ridgewav j  1 

Madison..  !  35 


40 
57 
92 


From  Gal  na   to  Prairie  du 
C/tf.ne. 

To  Jamestown 1  18 

Cassville 26  44 

Patch  Grove 12   56 

Pniiriodu  Chene.J  15:  71 

Illinois  a n  ft  Michigan  Canal 
from  Chicago  to  Peru. 

To  Canal  Port.. 


Summit . '.. . 
Des  Plaines-. 


Kupoiaw 

Lock-port 

Joliei 

Du  Page  River 

Morri«iana 

Clarkson  

Marseilles 

Ottawa.. 

Ulica 

La  Salle.. 

Peru. .        


5!  27 
5   32 


6 
10 
13 


38 
48 

61 


4:  05 
12  77 

8  85 
10  95 

3   98 

2100 


\St(>amboat  Route  from  Buf- 
falo to  Chicago,  111.,  via. 

Mack  iliac. 
To  Hamburg.  - 


8 
16! 


12 
22 


Cattaraugus. 


Dunkirk 

Portland 

Erie,  Penn 

Conneaut  Harbor. 

Ashtabula 

Grand  Kiver 

Cleveland 

Black  River 

Vermiltioti  River- 
Huron  

Sandusky 

Port  Clinton 

Toledo 

Erie 

Monroe. 

Brest 

Gibraltar 

Detroit 

Fort  Gratiot 

Point  Barques.. . 
Thunder  B.iy  1*1. 

Presque  Isl 

Bfackinac  Fort... 

Fox  Isl  Point 

Manitou  Islands.. 

Manitowoc 

Sliehoygnn 

Milwaukie, 

Racine 

Pouthport 

Chic&go 


18 
17 
15 

30 
30 
14 
28 
32 
28 
10 
12 
10 
15 
35 
121 
12i 
5 

171 
22 
75 
72 
78 
33.J 
78 
28 
75 
!100 
21 
53 


10 
28 
45 
60 
90 
120 
131 
162 
194 
222 
234 
244 
254 
26!) 
301 
316 
328 
333 
350 
372 
447 
519 
597 
630 
708 
736 
811 
911 
935 
988 
23J1011 
12  1023 
52:1075 


84  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-ROOK. 


STATE  OF  MISSOURI. 

• 

Missouri  is  bounded  north  by  the  State  of 
Iowa ;  east  by  the  Mississippi  river,  which  sepa- 
rates it  from  Illinois  and  Kentucky  ;  south  by 
the  State  of  Arkansas,  from  which  it  is  divided 
by  the  parallel  of  36°  30'  N.  lat. ;  and  west  by 
the  Indian  and  Nebraska  Territories,  and  the 
Missouri  river.  It  is  between  36°  30'  and  40° 
30'  N.  lat.,  and  90°  and  95°  30'  W.  long. 
Length,  from  north  to  south,  278  miles  ;  mean 
breadth  230  miles  ;  containing  an  area  of  64,140 
square  miles.  In  1840  the  population  was 
383,702 ;  in  1845  it  was  511,937  ;  and  in  1847, 
according  to  estimate,  600,000. 

Face  of  the  Country,  fyc. — With  the  exception 
of  the  alluvial  bottoms,  Missouri  is  rolling  or  hilly ; 
yet  no  part  rises  to  an  elevation  deserving  the 
name  of  a  mountain.  No  other  state  in  the 
union  is  so  greatly  diversified  as  respects  soil  and 
external  features.  The  south-eastern  corner  is 
almost  entirely  alluvial.  A  range  of  hills  com- 
mences in  St.  Francis  county,  and  extends  in  a 
.south-westerly  direction  to  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  state.  Another  range  of  a  larger  class, 
commencing  near  the  Missouri,  and  between  the 

C5  ' 

waters  of  the  Gasconade  and  Osage,  continues 
through  the  state,  increasing  in  magnitude,  until 
far  within  the  State  of  Arkansas  ;  these  are  term- 
ed the  Ozark  mountains.  This  ridge  is  fre- 
quently very  abrupt  near  the  water  courses,  and 
often  retiring  from  them,  with  strips  of  riqh  allu- 
vial between.  In  St.  Francis  county  exists  the 


STATE  OP  MISSOURI.  85 

celebrated  "  mountain  "  of  micaceous  oxide  of 
iron,  which  has  an  elevation  of  350  feet  above 
the  surrounding  plain,  is  a  mile  and  a  half  across 
its  summit,  and  yields  eighty  per  cent,  pure 
metal.  Five  miles  south  is  another  magnificent 
pyramidal  "  mountain  "  of  the  micaceous  oxide 
of  iron,  known  as  the  Pilot  Knob,  300  feet  high, 
and  with  a  base  of  a  mile  and  a  half  in  circum- 
ference. This  pyramid  is  not  in  plates,  but  huge 
masses  of  several  tons  in  weight,  and  yields  also  80 
per  cent.  Copper  is  also  found  in  Missouri,  and 
its  inexhaustible  lead  mines  are  well-known. 
The  "  Pine  Ridge,"  in  this  region,  furnishes 
that  lofty  timber  in  abundance ;  many  of  the 
trees  being  ninety  feet  high,  and  four  feet  in  di- 
ameter. Washington  county  is  a  perfect  bed  of 
metallic  treasures ;  lead  and  copper,  copperas, 
chalk,  black  lead  and  brimstone,  cornelian  and 
other  precious  stones,  free-stone,  lime-stone, 
grind-stone,  and  burr-stone.  St.  Genevieve 
county  has  numerous  quarries  of  magnificent 
marble,  and  vast  caverns  of  beautiful  white  sand, 
resembling  snow,  much  prized  for  the  manufac- 
tory of  flint  glass.  "  Throughout  the  mineral 
district  is  found,  on  searching  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  for  ores,  beds  of  rich,  red  marl  clay ,  which 
has  been  proved  to  be  the  very  best  manure  for 
the  soil.  These  beds  are  inexhaustible ;  and 
some  years  hence,  that  portion  of  Missouri  which 
is  considered  a  sterile,  mineral  region,  will  be 
found  as  fertile  as  any  portion  of  the  state." 
Between  the  waters  of  the  Osage  and  the  Mis- 
souri, is  a  fine  tract  of  country,  celebrated  for  its 
fertility,  agreeably  diversified  with  woodland  and 

8 


86  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

prairie,  and  abounding  with  coal,  salt  springs,  &-C, 
The  country  north  of  the  Missouri,  is  emphati- 
cally the  "  Garden  of  the  West."  There  is  no 
part  of  the  globe  where  greater  extent  of  coun- 
try can  be  traversed  more  easily  when  in  its  na- 
tural state.  It  is  for  the  most  part  a  surface  de- 
lightfully rolling  and  variegated,  sometimes  rising 
into  picturesque  hills,  then  stretching  far  away 
into  a  sea  of  prairie,  occasionally  interspersed 
with  shady  groves  and  sparkling  streamlets. 
Almost  every  acre  of  this  fine  region  of  country 
is  susceptible  of  agricultural  improvement,  and 
usually  productive,  The  products  consist  of  to- 
bacco, cotton,  hemp,  corn,  wheat,  rye,  oats,  bar- 
ley, and  the  grasses.  All  kinds  of  garden  vege- 
tables thrive  well.  Large  quantities  of  horses, 
mules,  horned  cattle,  sheep  and  hogs,  are  raised 
annually  for  exportation. 

Agricultural  Products,  fyc. — The  quantities  of 
produce  raised  in  1847,  are  as  follows  :  wheat, 
1,750,000  bushels;  oats,  6,020,000  bushels; 
rye,  86,000  bushels ;  buckwheat,  25,000  bush- 
els ;  Indian  corn,  25,000,000  bushels  ;  potatoes, 
1,050,005  bushels;  hay,  80,000  tons;  tobacco, 
in  the  cultivation  of  which  the  slaves  are  occu- 
pied, 14,000,000  Ibs. ;  silk  cocoons,  230  Ibs. ;  and 
maple  sugar,  500,000  Ibs.  The  value  of  fruit 
and  garden  vegetables,  may  be  estimated  at 
$140,000  yearly.  Hemp  and  flax,  and  some  cot- 
tons, are  raised  in  this  state. 

Live  Stock,  fyc. — Missouri  has  comparatively  a 
large  stock  of  domestic  animals ;  the  numbers  may 
be  set  down  as  fully  equal  to  those  of  Illinois, 
except  in  neat  cattle,  which  may  be  about  25  per 


STATE    OF   MISSOURI.  87 

cent.  less.  The  produce  of  the  dairy  is  about 
$180,000  in  value ;  and  the  annual  amount  of 
wool  is  stated  to  be  about  760,000  Ibs. 

Rivers. — The  Mississippi  meanders  along  the 
entire  eastern  boundary  of  the  state,  for  a  distance 
of  400  miles;  receiving  in  its  course  the 
waters  of  the  Missouri.  Through  the  centre, 
and  the  richest  part  of  the  state,  the  wild  Mis- 
souri pours  out  its  never-ceasing  currents,  being 
navigable  for  steamboats  far  westward,  for  four 
or  five  months  in  the  year.  The  Lamine,  Osage 
and  Gasconade  on  the  right,  and  the  Grand  and 
Chariton  on  the  left,  are  the  navigable  tributaries 
of  the  Missouri.  Salt  river,  a  navigable  stream, 
falls  into  the  Mississippi 86*  miles  above  the  Mis- 
souri. Merrimac  river,  also  navigable,  enters 
the  Mississippi  18  miles  below  St.  Louis. 
The  White  and  St.  Francis  drain  the  south- 
eastern port  ion,  and  the  Six  Bulls  and  tributaries, 
the  south-western  part  of  the  state. 

The  principal  exports  are  lead  and  furs.  A 
large  capital  is  employed  in  the  fur  trade,  on  the 
head  waters  of  the  Missouri. 

.Form  of  Government,  fyc. — The  powers  of 
government  aie  divided  into  three  distinct  de- 
partments. The  legislative  power  is  vested  in  a 
"  general  assembly,"  which  consists  of  a  "  Se- 
nate >:  and  a  4<  House  of  Representatives." 
Elections  are  held  biennially,  as  are  the  ordinary 
sessions  of  the  legislature.  Senators  are  elected 
for  four  years. 

The  supreme  executive  power  is  vested  in  a 
chief  magistrate,  who  shall  be  styled  "  The 


EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

Governor  of  the  State  of  Missouri."     Term  of 
service,  four  years. 

'  ml 

The  judicial  power  is  vested  in  a  "  supreme 
court,  "  in  circuit  courts,"  and  in  such  inferior 
tribunals  as  the  general  assembly  may,  from  time 
to  time,  establish. 

Every  white  male  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  who  shall  have  re- 
sided in  the  state  one  year  before  .an  election, 
and  three  months  in  the  county  where  he  votes, 
is  a  qualified  elector. 

Enumeration  of  inhabitants  to  be  made  every 
four  years. 

The  CITY  OF  ST.  Louis  is  situated  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  Mississippi,  20  miles  below  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Missouri ;  population  in  1845,  34,140. 
now  estimated  at  about  50,000.  It  occupies  a 
plain,  which  rising  gently  at  an  angle  of  aboul 
two  and  a  half  dogrees,  to  a  distance  of  six  hun- 
dred yards  from  the  river,  terminates  in  a  hori- 
zontal plane,  which  extends  far  to  the  west, 
north,  and  south. 

St.  Louis  is  the  great  depot  of  the  country 
west  of  the  Mississippi,  to  the  shores  of  the  Pa 
cific.  Viewed  from  the  opposite  shore,  or  as  i 
is  approached  from  the  river,  it  presents  a  beau 
tiful  appearance. 

The  city  was  first  settled  in  16(34.  It  is  mos 
favorably  situated  for  commerce,  and  is  no  doub 
destined  to  be  one  of  the  largest  cities  of  the  west 

O 

JEFFERSON  CITY  is  the  capital  of  the  state 
and  is  situated  on  the  west  bank  of  Missour 
river,  on  elevated  ground.  It  contains  about  200( 
inhabitants. 


ROUTES    IN    MISSOURI. 


89 


ROUTES  IN  MISSOURI. 


From,  Burlington  to  Peoria  >  From  St.  Lows  to  New-Mad- 


To  Monmouth 

Knox  Court  House 

Trenton . : 

Charleston 

Peoria 


21 
10 
14 
21 


281 
49| 
59 
73 
94 


From  Burlington  to  Quincy 


To  Augusta 

Fort  Madison 11 

10 

17 


11 

22 
32 
49 


Nauvoo 

Warsaw 

Lima I  13 

_Quincy ,  18   80 

'From  St.  Lo'/is  to  Chicago, 
via.  Springfield,  M. 

To  Edwardsville 

Lincoln 

Carlinville 

Auburn 


rid. 
To  Fredericktown.. 

Jackson 

Benton 

New  Madrid  . 


38 


109 
147 


26ll73 
41214 


Sprin^ 
Chicago. 


field. 


15; 
20 
24 
15 


21 
36 

56 
80j 
951 


232  327 


From  St.  Low's  to  Burling- 
ton, Iowa. 

To  Alton 

Jerseyville 20  44j 

Carrolton 13   57 

Manchester 18   75 

Jacksonville 20   95 

.  102197, 


\From  St.  Louis  to  Fort  Leav- 
enworth,via.  St.  Charles. 

| To  St.  Charles |  20 

Hickory  Grove...  j  28  48 

Danville 36  84 

Fulton 25109 

Decatur 42151 

Glasgow 21172 

Brunswick 28'200 

Carrolton 22  222 

Richmond 27249 

Liberty 27276 

Fort  Leaven  worth1  31307 

Prom  Si.  Louis  to  Indepen- 
dence. 

To  Manchester.. 


Burlington 


From  St.  Louis  to  Iowa  City. 
ToSt  Charles 

Troy 

Bowling  Green.. 

New-London. ... 

Palmyra 

Monticello 

Waterloo 

Fort  Madison. . . . 

Burlington 


Union. 

Gasconade 

Jefferson  City 

Boonvillc . , 


20 

35  55 
37j  92 

36  128 
45  IT.} 

Arrow  Kock !  22  195 

Mount  Hope 39  234 

Lexington 18252 

Independence '  40292 


32 
32 

22106 
23  129 
32  162 
25187 


29 
22 


20  Prom  St.  Louis  to  Ft.  Smith, 
52 1                       Ark. 
84  ToClifton.. 

Caledonia 

Steel  vi  lie 

Pine  Bluff. 

Oakland 

Woodburv 


216 


233;  I       Springfield. 


Iowa  City 80323  >       Cassville 

8* 


j  26 
28  79 
42  121 
50171 
36207 
18225 
33  258 
50!30S 


90 


EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 


Fayetteville  

53371 
26387 
35422! 

Platte  Kiver,  
Up  Platte  River  
,CJp  North  Fork  to  \ 
Cedar  Grove,  j 
To  Chimney  Rock.. 
Scott's  Bluff..... 
Fort  Laramie  
Big  Springs  

220 
196 

75 
58 
38 
73 
45 

88 

120 
40 
70 

133 

55 
70 
70 
110 

153 
94 
70 
80 
100 

676 

872 

947 
1005 
1043 
1116 
1161 

1249 

1369 
1409 
1479 
1612 

1667 
1737 
1807 
1917 
2056 
2209 
2303 
2373 
2453 
2553 

Evarisville  .   . 

Fort  Smith  

From  St.  Loin's  to  Little  Rock, 
Ark. 
To  Caledonia  1  79! 

Farm;ncrton  

22101 
43  144 
80  224 
50  274 
90364 

f-2>i*Af»nvi  1  1  1* 

Jackson  

Sweet  Water     ) 
River  | 

Little  Rock.  

South  Pass,     j 
RockvMts..  J 
Little  Sandy  Riv. 
Green  River.  . 

From  St.  Louis  to  Lot 
Ky. 
To  Belleville,  111  

lisville, 

14 

23  37 

41   78 
61  139 
31170 

35205 
40245 
18263 
16279 

Great  Sandusky. 
Partenith     first  ) 
waters  of  the  > 
Columbia  J 
Fort  Hall 

Aviston  

Saiem  * 

Olney  

Vincennes  

Mount  Pleasant.  .  . 
Hardinsburg  

Solomou's  Falls. 

Greenville  

Grand  Ronde  
Walla  Walla.... 
Dalles  

Louisville  

From  St.   Louis  to  Astoria, 
Oregon. 
To  mouth  of  Kansas.           381' 
Kansas  River    ) 
Crossing  \     75  456 

Cascade  Falls... 
Fort  Vancouver.. 
Astoria  

PORK  TRADE  OF  THE  MISSOURI  RIVER. 

NUMBER  OF    HOCJS    SLAUGHTERED    FOR    MARKET    1347 '48. 


St.  Joseph's. 5,000 

Weston 10.000 

Lexington 2,000 

Camclen 5,000 

Brunswick 5,000 

Glasgow, 3,000 


Boonville 4,000 

Rocheport 3,000 

Liberty 2,000 

Total, 39,000 


STATE  OF  MICHIGAN.  91 

\ 

STATE   OF  MICHIGAN. 

The  State  of  Michigan  is  composed  of  two 
Peninsulas,  formed  by  the  great  lakes  Superior, 
Michigan,  Huron,  and  Erie,  and  contains  about 
66,000  square  miles.  Its  population  in  1845 
was  304,285,  and  is  now  estimated  at  370,000, 
Its  boundaries  are  thus  established  by  an  act  of 
Congress.  "  Beginning  at  the  point  where  a  line, 
drawn  direct  from  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake 
Michigan,  to  the  most  northerly  cape  of  Maumee 
Bay,  intersects  the  eastern  boundary  line  of  the 
State  of  Indiana,  and  running  thence  with  the 
said  line  to  the  said  most  northerly  cape  of  the 
Maumee  Bay ;  and  thence  from  the  said  north 
cape  of  the  said  bay,  north-east,  to  the  boundary 
line  between  the  United  States  and  the  province 
of  Upper  Canada ,  thence,  with  said  boundary 
line  through  the  Detroit  river,  Lake  Huron,  and 
Lake  Superior,  to  a  point  where  the  said  line 
last  touches  Lake  Superior  (being  the  rnouth  of 
Pigeon  river)  ;  thence  in  a  direct  line  through 
Lake  Superior,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Montreal 
river;  thence,  through  the  main  channel  of 
the  said  river  Montreal,  to  the  middle  of  the 
Lake  of  the  Desert ;  thence  in  a  direct  line  to 
the  nearest  head  water  of  the  Monomonie  river  ; 
thence,  through  the  middle  of  that  fork  of  the 
said  river  first  touched  by  said  line,  to  the  main, 
channel  of  the  said  Monomonie  river  ;  thence 
down  the  centre  of  the  main  channel  of  the  same, 
to  the  centre  of  the  most  usual  ship  channel  of 
the  Green  Bay  of  Lake  Michigan ;  thence 


92  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

through  the  centre  of  the  most  usual  ship  chan- 
nel of  the  said  bay,  to  the  middle  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan ;  thence  through  the  middle  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan, to  the  northern  boundary  of  the  State  of 
Indiana,  as  that  line  was  established  by  the  act 
of  Congress  of  the  nineteenth  of  April,  1816; 
thence,  due  east  with  the  north  boundary  line 
of  the  State  of  Indiana,  to  the  north-east  corner 
thereof;  and  thence  south,  with  the  east  bound- 
ary line  of  Indiana,  to  the  place  of  beginning." 

Face  of  the  Country,  fyc. — The  surface  of  the 
lower  or  southern  peninsula  is  generally  level, 
having  very  few  elevations  which  may  be  termed 
hills.  The  interior  is  gently  undulating,  rising 
gradually  from  the  lakes  to  the  centre  of  the  pen- 
insula, and  is  mostly  covered  with  fine  forests 
of  timber,  interspersed  with  "  oak  openings," 
" plains,"  and  beautiful  "prairies."  Along  the 
eastern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  are  sand  hills, 
thrown  by  the  winds  into  innumerable  fantastic 
forms,  sometimes  covered  with  stunted  trees  and 
scanty  vegetation,  but  most  generally  bare ;  on 
the  shore  of  Lake  Huron,  are  some  high  sand 
cliffs.  The  point  formed  by  Lake  Huron  and 
Saginaw  Bay  is  generally  low  and  swampy. 

The  forest  trees  are  the  same  as  in  Ohio,  with 
the  addition  of  white  and  yellow  pine ;  fruit- 
trees  produce  abundantly. 

The  soil  is  well  adapted  to  wheat,  rye,  oats, 
barley,  flax,  hemp,  Indian  corn,  buckwheat,  &/c. 
All  kinds  of  garden  vegetables,  and  the  various 
species  of  grasses,  thrive  well. 

Agricultural  Products,  fyc. — The  crops  esti- 
mated by  the  Commissioner  of  Patents,  for  1847, 


STATE  OF  MICHIGAN.  93 

were  exceedingly  heavy,  and  seem  almost  in- 
credibly large  :  the  wheat  crops  amounted  to 
8,000,000  bushels  ;  barley  to  210,000  bushels ; 
oats  to  5,500,000  bushels  ;  rye  to  90,000  bush- 
els ;  buckwheat  to  290,000  bushels  ;  Indian  corn 
to  6,500,000  bushels  ;  potatoes  to  498,000  bush- 
els; hay  to  250,000  tons  ;  rice  to  700,000  Ibs.  ; 
silk  cocoons,  1500  Ibs.  ;  and  maple  sugar  to 
3,260,000  Ibs. 

Live  Stock,  fyc. — Horses  and  mules,  54,000  ; 
neat  cattle,  230,000  ;  sheep,  210,000 ;  swine, 
435,000,  and  the  value  of  poultry  of  all 
kinds,  about  $115,000.  The  products  of  the 
dairy  are  estimated  at  $420,000,  and  the  annual 
quantity  of  wool  at  325,000  Ibs. 

Rivers. — The  southern  peninsula  of  Michigan 
is  drained  by  several  large  rivers  and  numerous 
smaller  streams,  which  rise  near  the  centre  and 
pass  off  in  an  easterly  and  westerly  direction, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Cheboigan  and  three  or 
four  smaller  streams,  which  flow  in  a  northerly 
direction  ;  the  larger  streams  are  navigable  for 
boats  and  canoes  nearly  to  their  sources.  Raisin 
and  Huron  rivers  flow  into  Lake  Erie,  Rouge 
into  the  Detroit  strait,  Clinton,  St.  Clair,  and 
Black  river,  into  the  lake  and  strait  of  St.  Clair. 
Saginaw  river,  formed  by  the  junction  of  the 
Tittibawassee,  Hare,  Shiawassee,  Flint  and  Cass 
rivers,  enters  into  Saginaw  Bay.  Thunder  Bay 
river  and  Cheboigan,  with  several  smaller  streams, 
flow  into  the  northern  part  of  Lake  Huron.  St. 
Joseph,  Kalamazoo,  Grand  and  Maskego  rivers, 
and  several  smaller  streams,  flow  in  a  westerly 
direction  into  Lake  Michigan.  The  counties 


94  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

of  Oakland,  Livingston,  Washtenaw,  Barry, 
Jackson  and  Kalamazoo,  abound  with  small  clear 
lakes,  from  which  are  taken  great  quantities  of 
fish  of  various  kinds,  and  of  most  exquisite 
flavor. 

The  Northern  Peninsula. — *"  The  entire  area 
comprehended  within  the  state  limits  west  of 
lakes  Michigan  and  Huron,  cannot  be  stated 

O  * 

with  accuracy  in  the  present  unsurveyed  condi- 
tion of  the  country  ;  but  it  cannot,  if  I  have  used 
proper  data,  vary  greatly  from  twenty-two  mil- 
lions of  acres."  "  Portions  of  it  are  the  mere 
development  of  sublime  scenery,  which  apper- 
tains to  that  comparatively  elevated  portion  of 
the  continent.  Mountains  and  lakes,  plains, 
rivers,  and  forests,  spread  over  it  with  a  boldness 
of  outline,  which  may  be  said  to  constitute  al- 
most a  peculiar  type  in  North  American  geogra- 
phy. This  divison  embraces  the  mineral  district 
of  the  region.  Much  of  it  falls  under  the  influ- 
ence of  causes  which  render  it  of  little  or  no 
value  in  an  agricultural  point  of  view ;  but  it 
maybe  regarded  as  the  seat  of  future  mineral 
operations.  Accuracy,  with  respect  to  the  extent 
of  either  kind  of  soil,  either  in  acres  or  miles, 
must  be  the  result  of  explanation  and  survey. 
The  northern  shores  of  Lake  Michigan  and  Hu- 
ron, as  far  as  Point  Detour,  are  exclusively  lime- 
stone, where  rock  is  at  all  visible,  and  this  rock 
is  characterised  by  the  usual  indications  of  gyp- 
sum and  brine  springs.  The  growth  of  trees  in 
the  newly  acquired  boundary  is  as  various  as  the 

*  Schoolcraft. 


STATE    OF   MICHIGAN.  95 

soils,  and  is,  in  general,  an  accurate  index  of  its 
fertility.  The  sugar  maple  is  interspersed 
throughout  the  tract,  being  separated  by  the  san,<? 
plains,  the  mountain  masses,  and  by  tracts  of 
spruce  lands.  This  tree  forms,  however,  so  con- 
siderable a  proportion  of  the  growth,  that  the 
natives  can  always,  by  a  timely  removal  of  their 
camps,  rely  on  the  manufacture  of  sugar.  The 
beech  tree  is  found  as  far  north  as  Point  Iro- 
quois,  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior.  I  regard 
the  white  oak,  however,  as  a  surer  test  of  soil 
and  climate  together,  than  any  other  of  our  forest 
trees.  I  doubt  whether  this  tree  ever  attains  its 
full  size  in  a  climate  that  is  not  decidedly  conge- 
nial to  agriculture.  The  rock  rnaple  and  red 
oak  are  found,  at  intervals,  throughout  the  north- 
west ;  I  have  seen  both  species  at  the  sources  of 
the  Mississippi,  but  have  not  observed  the  beech 
north  of  the  locality  mentioned,  nor  the  white 
oak  north  of  the  straits  of  Mackinac.  The  in- 
terior abounds  in  minor  lakes,  and  enjoys  a  sin- 
gular advantage  of  inter-communication  by  its 
streams  and  portages.  The  areas  included  be- 
tween the  three  great  lakes  north  of  Mackinac, 
which  will  probably  hereafter  be  denominated 
the  Upper  Peninsula  of  Michigan,  embraces  the 
present  settlements  at  Mackinac  and  Sault  St. 
Marie.  Taking  the  whole  extent  of  the  annexed 
territory  from  Menomonee  river,  following  the 
curves  of  the  coast  to  the  north-west  limits  ot 
the  state  at  the  mouth  of  the  Moniaw  or  Mon- 
treal river  of  Lake  Superior,  it  affords  not  less 
than  720  miles  of  additional  coast  navigation  ; 
and  embraces,  in  this  distance,  several  large 
bays  and  excellent  harbors.  About  forty  large, 


96  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-ROOK. 

and  some  sixty  small  streams  discharge  their 
waters  into  the  three  lakes  constituting  portions 
of  the  boundary." 

Form  of  Government,  fyc. — The  powers  of  gov- 
ernment are  divided  into  three  distinct  depart- 
ments ;  the  legislative,  the  executive,  and  the 
judicial. 

The  legislative  power  is  vested  in  a  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives.  Senators  chosen 
every  two  years.  Representatives  annually. 

The  executive  power  is  vested  in  a  governor. 
Term  of  service  two  years. 

The  judicial  power  is  vested  in  a  supreme 
court,  and  such  other  courts  as  the  legislature 
may,  from  time  to  time,  establish. 

LANSING  is  the  capital  of  the  state.  It  is  beau- 
tifully situated  on  Grand  R.ver,  near  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Red  Cedar.  The  state  buildings  are 

~ 

not  yet  finished.  Until  the  year  1845  the  site  of 
this  city  was  a  wilderness,  and  was  then,  on  ac- 
count of  its  ceiltral  location,  chosen  for  the  seat 
of  government. 

DETROIT,  the  largest  city  of  the  state,  is  situa- 
ted on  the  west  bank  of  the  Detroit  Strait.  The 
plain  on  which  the  city  stands,  is  elevated  aboui 
30  feet  above  the  surf  ace  of  the  water,  command- 
ing an  extensive  view  of  the  surrounding  country. 
Detroit  is  the  great  commercial  emporium  of  the 
state,  and  has  long  been  the  principal  depot  of 
the  fur  trade  of  the  north-west  region,  Detroit 

^j 

was  first  settled  by  the  French,  about  1(333.  Steam 
vessels  ply  daily  between  Buffalo  and  the  inter- 
mediate places,  extending  their  trips  to  Chicago, 
and  the  upper  lakes.  Population  in,  1844,  9,182. 
Now  estimated  at  about  14,000. 


ROUTES  IN  MICHIGAN. 


ROUTES  IN  MICHIGAN. 


Prom  Detroit  to  To 
To  Gibraltar  

ledo 

22 

22 

'21 
43 
65 

Springfield  

12|  37 
121  49 
12  61 
36,  97 

Stony  iiun  

Monroe  .......... 

Kent  

Toledo  

Saginaw.  .... 

From  Detroit  to  Bujfat 
(Steamboat.) 
To  Sandusky  

of 

75 
85 
105 
13-2 
162 
192 
•236 
282 
327 

From  Detroit  to  Grand  Ha^ 
ven. 
ToFedford  ,  13 

10 
20 
27 
30 
30 
44 
46 
1  45 

Black  River  

Hicksville  

16   29 

22;    51 

35   86 
32118 
37,  155 
44:199 

Howell  

Grand  River..  

Dewitt  

Ionia  

Grand  Papids  

Dunkirk  

Grand  Haven  

Buflalo            

1  From  Detroit  to  St.  « 
;To  Dearbornville  
Ypsilanti  

Joseph.  . 

I  10 

20   30 
10!  40 
27i  67 
25   92 
21.113 
20)133 
13;  116 
34'ISC 
20|200 

From  Detroit  to    Chicago^ 
(Steamboat.)* 

From  Monroe  to  Niles, 
To  Ida  

(R. 

22 
23 
19 

85 

X.) 
12 

34 

57 
76 
161 

Ann  Arbor.  .  

Grass  Lake  

Adrian             ..... 

Smithfield  

Pittsford 

Marshall  

Svlvanus          ••  - 

Charleston  .  ,   

Niles  .s.  

Kalamazoo  

Keelersville.  .  

From  Adrian  toJat 
To  Tecumseh.-  ...... 

ksoi 

16 
18 

i. 
10 
26 
44 

St.  Joseph's   -    ... 

Elba  

j       From  Detroit  to  ]\ 
To  Ypsilanti  

'iles. 

30 
15   45 

28   73 
19   92 
18  110 
21  131 
23  154 
28182 

J  ackson  

From  Marshall  to  Mi 
City. 

'P4-v  Nf*\.i7tnn 

chi< 

18 
11 
41 
46 

ran 

i 
13 
31 
42 
83 
129 

Benton  

Woodstock  

Port  Pleasant  

Scipio    

Cold  Water  

C.entrevi!le  

Freedom  

Mishawaki  

Mottsville  

Michigan  City  

Nilps 

From  Detroit  to  Port 
To  Mount  Clemens  .  . 
Columbus  

Hnron\ 

\  I*' 
19!  37' 
22   59 

iitaio.  \ 
19 
6  2->, 

From  Detroit  to  Cht 
To  Nil  PS 

cago. 

1182 
32  214 
12  226 
41267 
12279 

Port  Huron  

Laporte  

Prom  Detroit  to  Sag 
To  Birmingham  

Michigan  City  
Columbus,  111  
Chicago  .......   . 

Pontiac  ...  

*  See  steamboat  route  from  Buffalo  to  Chicago,  p.  83. 

9 


98  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 


STATE  OF  WISCONSIN. 

Wisconsin,  a  state  just  emerged  from  its  tute- 
lage as  a  territory,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
and  fertile  districts  of  the  broad  lands  of  our  Re- 
public. It  is  bounded  north  by  the  territory  of 
Minesota  and  Lake  Superior ;  east  by  the  State 
and  Lake  of  Michigan  ;  south  by  Illinois,  and 
west  by  Iowa  and  the  Western  Territory,  from 
which  it  is  separated  by  the  Mississippi,  and  a 
line  drawn  from  the  Falls  in  the  St.  Louis,  direct- 
ly south  to  the  former  river.  It  lies  between  42° 
30'  and  49°  30'  N.  lat.,  and  between  87°  and  96° 
W.  long.,  being  about  600  miles  long  and  150 
miles  broad,  and  contains  about  84,000  square 
miles  of  surface. 

Surface,  fyc. — Wisconsin  is  one  vast  plain,  va- 
ried only  by  river  hills,  and  the  gentle  swells  and 
undulations  of  the  country,  usually  called  "  roll- 
ing." This  plain  is  elevated  from  600  to  1 ,500  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  ocean.  The  highest  lands  are 
those  dividing  the  waters  of  the  lakes  from  those  of 
the  Mississippi.  From  these  there  is  a  gradual  des- 
cent towards  the  south  and  west,  which,  however, 
is  several  times  interrupted  by  ridges  and  mounds, 
the  latter  of  which,  rising  above  the  general  land- 
scape, present  an  anomaly  in  the  contour  of  the 
country ;  and  in  the  unsettled  parts  serve  as 
guides  to  the  traveller.  The  slope  towards  Lake 
Superior  is  very  abrupt,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
the  rivers  are  short,  rapid,  and  broken  by  falls. 
They  are  unfit  for  navigation,  but  possess  abun- 
dance of  water-power,  which  at  no  distant  period 


STATE    OF    WISCONSIN.  99 

will  become  useful  to  the  settler.  There  is  an- 
other ridge  of  broken  land,  running  from  Green 
Bay  south-westerly,  forming  the  "  divide  ':  be- 
tween the  waters  of  Lake  Michigan  and  those  of 
the  Bay  and  the  Neenah.  After  pursuing  a  simi- 
lar direction  this  ridge  passes  into  the  State  of 
Illinois. 

Lakes,  fyc. — Besides  the  greatlakes  on  the  north 
and  east,  a  vast  number  of  smaller  ones  are  scatter- 
ed over  the  northern  portion  of  the  state.  They  are 
from  one  to  twenty  miles  in  extent,  and  many  are 
amid  the  most  beautiful  and  picturesque  scenery, 
abounding  in  fish  of  various  kinds,  and  having  a 
rich  supply  of  fine  specimens  of  agate,  cornelian 
and  other  precious  stones  on  their  shores.  In 
the  shallow  water  of  the  bays,  the  "zigania,  aqua- 
tica"  a  species  of  wild  rice,  is  abundant,  and 
attracts  immense  flocks  of  water-fowl  to  these  lo- 
calities, and  even  affords  a  nutritious  aliment  for 
man.  Among  the  small  lakes  may  be  mentioned 
Lakes  Winnebago,  St.  Croix,  Cass,  Pepin,  Four 
Lakes,  the  Mille  Lac, Ottawa,  Pewaugau,  Pewau- 
kee,  Geneva,  Greene,  and  many  others. 

Rivers,  Sfc. — The  Mississippi,  as  before  observ- 
ed, forms  the  western  boundary.  It  is  augmented 
from  this  state  by  the  waters  of  the  Chippevva  and 
Wisconsin,  which,though  themselves  considerable 
rivers,  scarcely  perceptibly  increase  the  volume  of 
the  "  Father  of  Waters."  Innumerable  smaller 
streams  and  branches  run  through  the  whole  ex- 

. 

tent  of  the  state,  so  that  no  portion  of  it  is  with- 
out a  plentiful  supply  of  good,  and  generally  pure 
water.  The  Mississippi  is  navigable  as  far  up  as 


ICO  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  and  small  steamboats 
ply  on  the  Wisconsin  snd  some  other  rivers. 

The  rivers  running  into  the  Mississippi  take 
their  rise  in  the  vicinity  of  the  sources  of  those 
running  into  the  lakes,  and  they  often  originate 
in  the  same  lake  or  swamp,  so  that  the  communi- 
cation from  the  Mississippi  to  the  lakes  is  render- 
ed comparatively  easy  at  various  points.  Some 
of  the  rivers  are  supplied  from  the  Tamarack 
Swamps,  from  which  the  water  takes  a  dark 
color. 

Products. — Wisconsin  is  composed  of  timber- 
ed and  prairie  land,  pretty  equally  divided,  with 
some  swamps  and  wet' prairies,  having  generally  a 
soil  from  one  to  ten  feet  deep. 

All  kinds  of  crops  which  are  raised  in  north- 
ern latitudes  may  be  cultivated  with  success  ; 
and  owing  to  the  great  range  of  pasturage  on  the 
prairies,  it  is  an  uncommonly  fine  grazing  coun- 
try. The  counties  of  Grant  and  Iowa  abound 
with  lead  and  copper  ore.  Bordering  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  Wisconsin  rirers  the  soil  is  rich,  and 
the  surface  most  generally  covered  with  a  heavy 
growth  of  timber. 

Agricultural  Products. — From  the  valuable 
statistical  matter  furnished  in  the  report  of  the 
U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Patents,  we  are  enabled 
to  exhibit  the  amounts  of  the  various  crops  raised 
in  1847:  wheat,  1,21)0,000  bushels;  barley, 
.30,000  bushels;  oats,  1,500,000  bushels;  rye, 
8,000  bushels;  buckwheat,  30,000  bushels ;  In- 
dian corn,  1,000,000  bushels;  potatoes,  1,080- 
000  bushels ;  hay,  96,000  tons ;  and  maple  su- 
gar, 175,000  Ibs. 


STATE    OF    WISCONSIN.  101 

Live  Stock,  fyc. — There  is  no  reliable  infor- 
mation on  this  subject  since  1840;  and  as  the 
statistics  of  that  year  are  entirely  incapable  of 
giving  even  an  idea  of  the  numbers  of  horses  and 
cattle  in  1848,  we  need  not  here  trouble  the 
reader  with  the  details.  Wisconsin  is  no  doubt 
as  liberally  supplied  with  "  flocks  and  herds  "  as 
her  neighbors.  For  so  young  a  state  it  is  won- 
derful to  behold  the  rapid  progress  which  has 
been  made  by  the  people. 

Population. — In  regard  to  population  Wiscon- 
sin has  outstripped  some  of  the  old  established 
states.  As  a  rare  phenomenon  in  social  statistics 
we  will  exhibit  in  full  its  progressive  increase  : 


-Increase.- 


Date.  Population.  Numerical.  Relative. 

1830 3,245 

1836 11,686  in  6  years  8,441 72,7  percent. 

1838 18,149  in  2  years  6,463 35.3         " 

1840 30,945         "         .12,796 41.4 

1842 ;  46,678    "    15,733 33.9    " 

1844 117,000    "    70,322 60.1 

1846 155,277    "    38,277 24.7 

1848 215,800    "    60,523 28.0    " 

I 

Climate,  fyc. — The  proximity  of  Wisconsin  to 
the  Great  Lakes  ensures  it  a  softer  climate  than  its 
geographical  position  would  assign  to  it.  The  ex- 
tremes however  are  great,  the  thermometer  some- 
times duringthe  summer  marking  100°  and  in  win- 
ter receding  to  40°  below  zero  ;  but  the  salubrity 
of  the  counjtry  is  not  disturbed  by  these  circum- 
stances, as  the  heat  and  cold  are  seasonal  and 
approach  not  by  sudden  flaws,  but  by  a  gradation 
that  renders  the  approach  almost  unfelt.  The 
mean  temperature  of  the  year  is,  in  different 

9* 


102  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

parts,  from  46°  6'  to  47°  4' ;  and  of  spring,  43° 
4'  to  48°  6' ;  summer,  67°  3'  to  71°  I'  ;  autumn, 
45D  5'  to  43°  2' ;  and  winter,  17°  3'  to  27°  3'. 
The  lowest  mean  monthly  temperature  is  13°  58' 
in  January ;  and  the  highest  75D47/  in  July. 
The  average  annual  amount  of  rain  is  from  27.96 
to  38.83  inches.  The  north  and  north-west,  and 
the  south  and  south-west  winds  are  those  most 
prevalent ;  the  former  in  the  winter  and  the  lattei 
in  the  summer  season. 

The  salubrity  of  the  climate,  the  purity  of  the 
air,  and  of  the  water  ;  the  coolness  and  short 
duration  of  the  summers,  and  the  dryness  of  the 
winters,  conspire  to  render  Wisconsin  one  of  the 
most  favored  regions  of  the  United  States.  The 
swamps,  marshes,  and  wet  meadows  are  constant- 
ly supplied  with  pure  water  from  springs  ;  and  as 
they  are  seldom  exposed  to  long  continued  heats, 
they  do  not  send  forth  those  noxious  vapors  so 
much  dreaded  in  the  more  southern  sections  of 
the  Union.  Many  of  the  most  flourishing  towns 
are  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  large  swamps, 
yet  no  injurious  effect  on  the  general  health  is 
experienced,  and  longevity  is  signally  a.  prevalent 
complaint  with  the  settlers. 

Wisconsin  has  now  taken  an  independent  po- 
sition among  her  sister  states,  and  a  regular  con- 
stitutional government,  based  on  the  most  liberal 
principles,  has  been  installed  ;  courts  of  justice 
are  established,  and  schools  and  churches  are 
thickly  planted  over  the  state. 

The  natural  advantages,  and  the  present  ad- 
vanced position  of  this  state,  render  it  very  invit- 
ing; it  is  especially  adapted  for  purely  agricultural 


STATE    OF    WISCONSIN.  103 

purposes,  also  for  mining,  or  for  grazing  or  sheep- 
farming.  Its  river  and  lake  facilities  are  great,  and 
already  the  busy  strife  of  commercial  activity  has 
penetrated  to  its  very  centre.  Steamboats  ply  on 
its  waters;  and  roads,  which  have  been  built  by  the 
late  territorial  government,  greatly  facilitate  the, 
development  of  the  natural  wealth  of  this  fine 
country  ;  a  country  which  is  destined  to  support 
a  large  population,  and  to  be  one  of  the  bright- 
est jewels  in  the  diadem  of  liberty. 

MADISON,  the  capital,  is  159  miles  from  Chr 
cago,  and  pleasantly  situated  on  a  peninsula,  be- 
tween two  lakes,  on  a  gentle  swell  of  ground, 
from  which  there  is  a  regular  descent  to  the 

O 

water.  It  is  well  laid  out,  the  streets  crossing 
each  other  at  right  angles,  and  having  in  their 
centre  a  large  square,  in  the  middle  of  which  is 
the  State-House,  a  handsome  stone  edifice.  The 
town  contains  about  1,500  inhabitants. 

MILWAUKIE  is  the  largest  and  most  important 
place  in  the  state,  whether  we  regard  it  in  its  na- 
tural or  commercial  position.  It  is  situated  on  both 
sides  of  Milwaukie  river,  near  its  entrance  into 
Lake  Michigan,  90  miles  above  Chicago,  and  is 
a  very  flourishing  city.  Previous  to  1835  the  site 
of  this  city  was  a  wilderness ;  its  population  is 
now  about  12,000. 

History. — Wisconsin  was  formerly  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  French,  by  whom  it  was  discovered. 
It  subsequently  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British, 
who  held  it  until  1794,  when  it  was  transferred 
to  the  United  States,  and  became  a  part  of  the 
* 


104 


EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 


"  territory  north-west  of  the  Ohio  river."  In 
1836  it  was  made  a  separate  territory,  and  in 
1848,  on  its  adopting  a  constitution,  it  became  a 
state  of  the  Union. 


ROUTES  IN  WISCONSIN. 


From  Milwa:ikie  to  C 
To  Racine  

''hici 

11 

14 
10 
16 
4 
12 

igo. 
25 
36 
50 
60 
76 
80 
92 

From  Madison  to  G 

alena. 

\  25 
19;  44 
8   62 
12   64 
19   83 
9  92 

Southport  

T^Oflcrp  vil  !*-» 

Otsego,  111  

Mineral  Point  

Rf^l  iTinnfr 

Abington  ,  

\Vheeling  ..... 

Hazel  Green.  
Galena  

Dutchman's  Point. 
Chicago  

From  Milwaukee  to 
Bay. 

To  Washington.   . 

Green  - 

1  28 
30   .18 
36  84 
18  102 
18  120 

From  Miliraukie   to 
Island. 
To  New  Berlin  

Rock 

\  10 

23   33 
20   53 

24    11 
18   85 
13   98 
27  125 
15  140 
68  208 

Trov  

Shebovgan 

Johnston  

Ma  niton  woe 

Beloit  

La  Boeuf 

Roseford  

Green  Bay 

T7of*ktnrrl 

Oregon  City  

From  Madis-in  to  Fort 
ford. 

To  Beaumont  

Craw- 

\  26 
10   35 
10   46 
IS   61 
24   88 
13101 

Dixon.  ......... 

Rock  Island  

Fi-om  Mil'-aukie  to  M 
To  Prairie  Village  
Summit  

adii 

20 
9 

21 

ton 
15 
30 
50 
59 
80 

Ridge  way..  

Dodge  vi  He  .  .  

Wingville  

Astuian 

Pateligrove.  ...... 

Cottage  Grove  
Madison.  . 

Fort  Crawford  

STATE    OF    IOWA.  105 


STATE  OF  IOWA. 

Iowa  is  a  large  and  fertile  state,  bounded  on  the 
north  and  west  by  the  western  territory  ;  east  by 
the  river  Mississippi ;  and  south  by  the  state  of 
Missouri.  It  is  situated  between  40°  30'  and  43° 
30'  N.  lat.,  and  between  the  meridians  of  90° 
29'  and  96°  50'  W.  long.,  being  about  256  miles 
long,  and  in  mean  breadth  about  198  miles,  and 
contains  59,600  square  miles  of  surface.  The 
population  in  1840  was  43,112;  in  1844  it  was 
78,819,  and  it  is  now  estimated  at  130.000. 

Face  of  the  Country. — The  general  features 
of  this  state  present  much  of  what  is  called 
"  rolling,"  without  being  mountainous  or  even 
hilly.  An  elevated  table-land  or  plateau,  how- 
ever, extends  through  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  country,  dividing  the  streams  which  flow  re- 
spectively into  the  Missouri  and  the  Mississippi 
rivers.  The  margins  of  the  rivers  and  streams 
are  thickly  timbered,  but  the  rest  of  the  state  is 
open  prairie,  with  alternations  of  woodlands  of 
some  extent,  which  diversify  and  enliven  the 
scenery.  About  three-fourths  of  all  the  lands 
are  prairie.  The  varieties  of  these  are  end- 
less :  some  are  level  and  others  rolling ;  some 
clothed  in  thick  grass,  suitable  for  grazing 
farms,  while  hazel  thickets  and  sassafras  shrubs 
invest  others  with  a  perennial  verdure  ;  and  in 
spring  and  summer  are  superbly  decorated  with 
flowers.  The  soil  of  Iowa  is  universally  good, 
being  of  a  rich  black  mould ;  and  in  the  prairies 


106  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

this  is  sometimes  mingled  with  sandy  loam,  and 
sometimes  with  red  clay  and  gravel. 

Agricultural  Products,  fyc. — The  estimate  of 
the  crops  of  1847  were  as  follows :  wheat, 
1,000,000  bushels  ;  barley,  35,000  bushels  ;  oats, 
1,000,000  bushels;  rye,  12,000  bushels ;  buck- 
wheat, 20,000  bushels;  Indian  corn,  2,900,000 
bushels;  potatoes, -850, 000  bushels  ;  hay,  40,000 
tons ;  and  maple  sugar,  175,000  Ibs.  The  statis- 
tics, however,  are  incomplete,  giving  no  account 
of  the  miscellaneous  crops  ;  but  which,  it  is  pro- 
bable, have  been  as  abundant  as  in  the  other 
western  states. 

Live  Stock,  $$c. — Horses  and  mules,  35,000  ; 
neat  cattle,  7(5,000  ;  sheep,  40,000  ;  swine,  320- 
000 ;  and  the  value  of  poultry  of  all  kinds, 
$42,000. 

Rivers,  fyc. — The  Mississippi  river  borders  the 
east  of  this  state,  and  is  navigable  for  steamboats 
the  entire  distance.  The  Des  Moines  waters  the 
southern  section  of  the  country,  and  falls  into 
the  Mississippi,  after  forming,  for  some  distance, 
the  south-western  boundary  of  the  state.  It  is 
navigable  for  100  miles  from  its  mouth.  The 
Iowa  river,  a  navigable  stream,  also  traverses  a 
large  portion  of  the  state.  Besides  these  there 
are  numerous  minor  rivers  and  streams  falling 
into  either  the  Missouri  or  Mississippi,  and  which 
are  highly  beneficial  to  the  fertility  and  produc- 
tiveness of  the  lands,  as  well  as  being  available 
for  transportation  and  internal  communication. 

Government — The  government,  of  Iowa  is  based 
on  the  Constitution  of  1846.  Every  white  male  ci- 
tizen is  eligible  for  voting  or  office,  on  attaining  the 


STATE    OF    IOWA.  107 

age  of  twenty-one.  The  legislature,  called  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  consisting  of  a  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives,  assembles  at  Iowa  City  bien- 
nially. Both  senators  and  representatives  are 
elected  by  ballot  from  among  the  people,  and  for 
the  term  of  two  years.  The  governor  is  chosen 
by  a  plurality  of  the  popular  vote,  and  is  elected 
for  four  years  ;  he  must  be  30  years  old,  and  have 
resided  in  the  state  for  two  years  previous  to  his 
election.  The  secretary  of  state,  auditor,  and 
treasurer  are  chosen  by  the  people. 

The  judicial  power  is  vested  in  courts  created 
by  the  Constitution.  The  Supreme  Court  con- 
sists of  a  chief  justice  and  two  associate  justices, 
elected  by  joint  vote  of  the  General  Assembly, 
for  six  years,  and  until  their  successors  are  elect- 
ed and  qualified.  This  court  has  appellate  juris- 
diction  only.  The  judges  of  the  District  Courts 
are  elected  by  the  people  of  the  several  judicial 
districts,  for  five  years.  Justices  of  peace  have 
jurisdiction  over  all  minor  civil  cases  and  breach- 
es of  the  peace  of  all  descriptions. 

The  Constitution  is  very  stringent  in  regard  to 
finance.  No  state  debts,  exceeding  $100,000 
can  be,  created,  except  in  case  of  war  or  insur- 
rection, without  a'special  law,  and  the  consent 
of  the  people,  expressed  through  the  ballot-box. 
Banks  cannot  be  chartered,  and  no  persons  or 
associations  are  allowed  to  issue  or  circulate 
paper  money.  The  state  can  never  become  a 
stockholder  in  any  corporate  undertaking. 

Funds  are  provided  for  the  establishment 
of  a  University,  and  for  the  support  of  schools 
throughout  the  state.  In  this  respect  Iowa  pro- 


108  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

vides  more  liberally  than  any  other  state  in  the 
Union.  Religious  opinions  are  safe  from  moles- 
tation— slavery  and  involuntary  servitude  is  for- 
ever forbidden — and  the  duelist  is  disqualified 
forever  from  holding  any  office  of  honor  or  profit 
within  the  country. 

History. — Iowa  was  formerly  a  portion  of  Loui- 
siana, and  came  into  the  possession  of  the  United 
States  in  1803.  In  1838  it  was  erected  into  a  se- 
parate territorial  government ;  and  in  1846,  on 
the  adoption  of  its  Constitution,  became  one  of 
the  great  family  of  our  Confederate-Republic. 

The  prospects  of  this  new  state  are  favorable. 
The  land  is  good,  and  the  emigrant  experiences 
little  trouble  in  making  it  productive.  With  a 
mild  climate,  plenty  of  water,  pure  and  fresh, 
with  navigable  rivers,  and  all  the  characteristics 
of  future  prosperity  in  its  midst,  the  state  has 
rapidly  increased  in  population  and  importance. 
Next  to  Wisconsin  it  is  the  most  eligible  to  the 
European  settler,  who  may  find  every  description 
of  land  within  its  borders  he  may  desire.  Graz- 
ing and  feeding  are  much  attended  to,  and  are 
highly  remunerative  to  those  engaged  in  these 
employments. 

IOWA  CITY  is  the  capital  and  seat  of  govern- 
ment. It  is  situated  on  the  east  side  of  the  Iowa 
fiver,  which  is  navigable  at  all  seasons  for  keel- 

7  O 

boats.  This  place  was  the  hunting-ground  of  the 
Indian  until  1839.  The  location  is  beautiful, 
rising  on  a  succession  of  plateaux  or  elevated  ter- 
races, overlooking  a  splendid  country.  The 
capitol  is  in  the  Grecian  Doric  style  of  architef?- 
ture,  measuring  120  feet  long  and  61)  ieet  wide, 


ROUTES    IN    TOWA. 


109 


and  is  two-stories  high  above  the  basement.  It 
is  surmounted  by  a  dome  supported  by  22  Corin- 
thian columns.  The  present  population  is  about 
1,600,  and  is  daily  increasing  from  the  influx  of 
emigrants. 

Dubuque,  Burlington,  &.G.,  are  also  places  of 
considerable  population  and  trade.  There  is  a 
Quaker  settlement  at  Salem,  in  Henry  county, 
which  is  said  to  be  in  a  very  flourishing  condition. 


ROUTES  IN  IOWA. 


Prom  Burlington  to  St. 
Louis. 


To  Fort  Madison- 

Montrose 

St.  Francisv  lie — 

Winchester 

Monticello 

La  Grange ... 

Palmyra 

New-London . . 


12 

11 
16 
15 

1") 


22 
34 
45 
61 
76 
91 


W.  Liberty [    8  48 

Iowa  City |  12   60 


\From  Dubuqiieto  Davenport. 
iTo  Andrew 

De  Witt 

Davenport 


18109 
23132 


28 
18 


28 
56 
74 


From  Davenport  to  Burling- 
ton. 


Bowling  Green. . . 

Troy 

St.  Peters 

St.  Charles 

Waltonham 

St.  Louis 


32186 

21-210 
8218 

11229 
9238 


jjTo  Blooming-ton. 

Muscatine 

Wapello 

Florence . . 


From  Davenport  to  Iowa 

City. 
To  Montpelier  ....... 

Bloomington  ..... 

Overman's  Ferry. 


12 
Il 


17 
29 
40 


Burlington. 


11 
12 

7 
21 


29 
40 

53 
59 

83 


From  Burlington  to  Iowa 
City. 

To  Yellow  Spring 

Florence. 

Wapello 

Muscatine... 


Bloomington , 

West  Liberty  — 
Iowa  City 


10 
7 
12 

11 
19 
12 


16 
26 
33 
45 
56 
75 
87 


TERRITORIES. — Under  a  variety  of  local  names 
these  vast  territories  are  yet  occupied  by  the  Indian  ;  but  in  several 
parts  the  pioneers  of  civilization  have  penetrated  into  their  wilder- 
nesses. They  are  for  many  miles  of  a  similar  character  to  the  Ian! 
of  Iowa  and  Missouri,  and  principally  consist  of  prairie.  They  ter- 
minate only  with  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  is  unnecessary  to  dilate 
further  on  their  topography,  as  it  is  improbable  thut  any  emigrants, 
for  years  to  come,  will  find  it  necessary  to  occupy  them.  Millions 
may  yet  find  homes  in  the  more  settled  districts. 

10 


110  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 


APPENDIX. 

• 

THE  following  letter  is  from  a  gentleman,  in  whose 
practical  knowledge  and  benevolent  intentions  the  pub- 
lisher has  the  fullest  confidence ;  and  as  it  contains  many 
remarks  and  suggestions  which  may  prove  serviceable 
to  the  immigrant,  he  has  concluded  to  insert  it  as  a  por. 
tion  of  his  book,  and  has  also  adopted  his  advice,  to  re- 
publish  the  "  Address  of  the  Irish  Emigrant  Society," 
the  contents  of  which  are  recommended  to  the  best  at- 
tention of  those  to  whom  it  is  addressed,  and  to  all  others, 
who,  like  them,  are  about  to  become  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  J.  H.  C. 

NEW-YORK,  10th  August,  1848. 
J.  H.  COLTON,  Esq., 

Dear  Sir  : 

The  interest  you  have  ever  had  in  forwarding 
the  welfare  of  the  thousands  of  immigrants  who 
annually  land  on  our  shores,  and  seek  among 
ourselves  those  immunities  and  privileges  which 
are  denied  them  in  the  countries  of  despotic 
Europe ;  and  having  seen  the  proof-sheets  of 
a  small  work  you  are  now  preparing  for 
publication,  have  induced  me  to  address  you 
briefly  on  a  subject  intimately  connected  with 
the  purport  of  your  intended  publication,  viz. : 
the  views  I  entertain  in  regard  to  conveniences 
which  ought  to  be  extended  towards  the  stran- 
ger, who  seeks  to  mingle  his  destiny  with  that 
of  our  own  country,  and  the  extension  to  him 
of  those  comforts  which  philanthropy  would 


ADVICE    TO    EMIGRANTS.  Ill 

dictate,  as  necessary  to  his  happiness  and  wel- 
fare. 

Having  crossed  the  Atlantic  between  twenty 
and  thirty  times,  and  in  almost  every  returning 
passage  having  made  myself  acquainted  with 
many  individuals  and  families,  corning  out  to 
settle  in  the  Far  West,  who  had  very  little  know- 
ledge of  the  country  or  the  evils  to  which  they 
were  exposed  from  a  set  of  sharpers,  who  watch 
to  plunder  every  credulous  and  unsuspecting 
stranger  from  a  foreign  land,  I  am  fully  con- 
vinced, not  only  from  observation  on  ship-board, 
but  also  from  investigating  the  condition  of  this 
class  of  persons  at  their  lodging-places  in  our 
cities,  that  in  addition  to  the  protection  and  aid 
they  receive  from  the  state,  some  further  assist- 
ance is  peculiarly  needed,  by  individual  exertion, 
for  their  benefit,  until  they  arrive  at  the  end  of 
their  journey  in  the  interior,  or  find  employment 
earlier  in  some  of  the  Atlantic  cities. 

It  is  a  popular  maxim,  that  '*  IN  UNION  is 
STRENGTH."  The  principle  will  apply  peculiarly 
to  emigration  ;  and  1  would  advise  those  immi- 
grants coming  out  with  families,  to  buy  farms  in 
the  west,  that  they  associate  with  them  other 
families,  say  from  ten  to  twenty  ;  there  being  in 
such  associations  many  advantages  to  be  derived 
in  the  economy  and  comfort  of  each,  not  only 
on  ship-board  and  to  the  place  designed  for  set- 
tlement, but  also  in  forming  and  executing  their 
future  plans  of  life  as  a  social  community. 
Many  very  pleasant  and  flourishing  villages  have 
been  thus  formed  in  the  west,  by  families  from 
the  Eastern  States ;  and  it  is  stiil  more  needful 


112  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

and  desirable  for  those  from  abroad  to  unite  for 
their  mutual  benefit  in  such  a  plan,  as  they  can 
have  little  or  no  practical  experience  in  forming 
new  settlements ;  and  singly,  whatever  enter- 
prise or  perseverance  a  man  may  possess,  these  are 
too  often  thrown  away  on  impracticable  endeav- 
ors, which  would  have  been  crowned  with  suc- 
cess had  the  method  pointed  out  been  adopted. 

Immigrants,  coming  with  or  without  families, 
should  make  no  engagement  for  a  passage,  or 
arrangements  for  the  voyage,  without  consulting 
some  judicious  friend,  capable  of  giving  the 
needful  advice  respecting  the  price  to  be  paid 
for  fare,  and  the  provisions,  clothing,  money, 
and  other  matters,  necessary  to  secure  his  com- 
fort and  ultimate  success  in  life.  Such  precau- 
tion is  as  proper  in  foreign  cities  to  prevent  im- 
position, as  it  is  in  our  own. 

Passengers  in  the  between  decks,  having  mo- 
ney, would  do  well  to  place  it,  immediately  on 
going  aboard,  in  care  of  the  captain,  taking  his 
receipt  for  it.  This  precaution  ought  not  to  be 
omitted,  as  there  are  usually  among  those  in  the 
forward  part  of  the  vessel  some  that  are  dishon- 
est ;  and  I  have  seldom  sailed  in  any  ship  having 
emigrant  passengers,  that  there  were  not  some 
thieves  to  pilfer  or  deceive  the  unsuspecting  on 
the  voyage.  Our  packet  captains  are  all  respon- 
sible men,  of  high  respectability,  and  money  so 
entrusted  to  them  will  always  be  perfectly  safe. 

But  immigrants  have   been   most  imposed  on 
and  robbed   after  their   arrival    here,  and   that 
often  by  their  own  countrymen,  whose  influence 
should  have  been  exerted  to  promote  their  com 
fort,  and  to  assist,  certainly  not  to  injure  them. 


ADVICE    TO    EMIGRANTS.  113 

Before  the  state  interfered  to  protect  their  in- 
terests, and  to  keep  them  from  the  hands  of 
those  swindlers,  I  employed  considerable  time 
to  ascertain  their  condition  after  landing,  and  to 
discover  whether  public  rumor  respecting  impo- 
sitions and  robberies  was  correct.  After  visit- 
ing many  of  the  immigrant  boarding-houses,  I 
was  convinced  that  these  reports  were  but  too 
true,  and  that  something  ought  to  be  done  im- 
mediately by  our  public  authorities  or  benevolent 
societies  to  put  a  stop  to  the  victimizing,  swin- 
dling operations  carried  on  by  a  set  of  heartless 
and  designing  knaves.  I  therefore  called  upon 
the  Presidents  of  the  St.  George's,  Hibernian, 
St.  Andrew's  and  German  Societies,  the  Mayor 
of  the  city,  and  others,  to  see  if  some  united  ef- 
fort of  these  institutions  and  our  city  govern- 
ment could  not  be  made  to  save  the  unprotected 
stranger  from  those  depredations  and  disappoint- 
ments which  have  been  the  means  of  filling  our 
hospitals  and  alms-houses,  and  flooding  our  great 
cities  with  sickness  and  pauperism  ;  and  to  pro- 
vide for  the  immigrants  other  places,  where  they 
would  not  be  enticed  into  habits  of  gambling,  in- 
temperance, and  other  vices,  destructive  alike  of 
all  those  hopes  of  future  prosperity,  which  are  na- 
turally indulged  in  by  the  immigrant,  and  that 
usefulness  to  which  he  might  otherwise  have  de- 
voted his  energies. 

Since  this  period,  the  "  British  Protective 
Emigrant  Society,"  the  Irish  Emigrant  Societies, 
and  other  laudable  associations  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  immigrant,  have  been  founded. 
These  and  the  recent  laws  of  the  state,  and  the 

10* 


114  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

appointment  of  a  Board  of  Commissioners  to 
protect  the  interests  of  the  classes  referred  to, 
will,  I  have  no  doubt,  be  of  essential  service, 
and  be  productive  of  much  good  to  all  con- 
cerned. But  much  more  remains  to  be  done  for 
them,  that  can  only  be  effected  by  individual  ef- 
fort, and  with  which  the  public  authorities  are 
incompetent  to  cope. 

Some  systematic  mode  should  be  adopted  to 
guide  them,  from  the  time  they  leave  the  land  of 
their  fathers,  until  they  find  a  suitable  residence 
in  this  country  ;  and  no  better  plan  presents  itself 
to  my  mind  to  accomplish  this  desirable  result, 
than  to  adopt  the  following  proposals,  viz.  : 

1.  To  distribute  cards  at  Liverpool  and  other 
parts,  whence  emigrants  usually  embark,  direct- 
ing them  to  the  Agents  of  the  numerous  benevo- 
lent societies  instituted  for  their   benefit,  in  this 
and  other  cities  of  the  United  States,  and  to  the 
managers  of  the  Intelligence  Offices  under  their 

O  O 

care.  By  this  plan  the  emigrant  will  receive, 
gratuitously,  all  the  information  he  may  want, 
and,  in  general,  be  able,  through  the  influence 
of  these  societies,  to  find  immediate  employ- 
ment, if  such  be  desired. 

2.  A  word  to  those  who  are  desirous  of  pro- 
ceeding to  the  interior.     To  those  seeking  em- 
ployment on  the  public  works,  as   canals,  rail- 
roads, &c.,  or  those  who  are  going  out  west  to 
purchase  lands,  I  can  commend  no  one  more 
worthy  and  willing  to  give  assistance  and  advice, 
than  JOHN   ALLEN,  Esquire,  Superintendent   of 
the  Western  Passage  Company.     He  is  a  gentle- 
man  eminently  trustworthy,  and  capable  of  giv- 


ADVICE    TO    EMIGRANTS.  115 

ing  information  on  all  topics  connected  with  im- 
migrants, and  the  company  to  which  he  belongs 
is  composed  of  about  twenty  of  the  most  respec- 
table transportation  firms,  having  1,000  boats 
navigating  the  rivers,  canals,  and  lakes.  Mr.  A. 
will  give  letters  of  introduction  to  gentlemen  of 
the  first  respectability  in  every  section  of  the 
Western  states. 

3.  I  would  propose,  also,  to  have  one  con- 
nected chain  of  communication,  not  only  from 
New-York,  or  other  ports,  to  the  interior,  but 
commencing  at  the  actual  point  of  embarkation, 
and  from  the  emigrant's  former  abode,  and  end- 
ing only  with  his  destined  home  in  this  country. 
To  effect  this,  agents  ought  to  be  stationed  at 
the  European  ports,  having  power  to  sell  passage 
fares,  not  only  from  port  to  port,  but  from  the 
port  of  embarkation  to  the  ultimate  destination 
of  the  emigrant.  By  such  an  arrangement,  he 
would  be  conveyed  safely,  and  be  protected  from 
those  impositions  to  which,  in  the  present  state 
of  things,  he  is  hourly  liable,  and  he  would  find 
a  friend,  instead  of  a  foe,  at  every  stage  of  his 
progress.  This,  however,  must  of  necessity  be 
an  individual  enterprise ;  and  I  feel  certain  that 
if  carried  into  effect  by  honest  and  capable  par- 
ties, it  would  conduce  much  to  the  welfare  of  all 
concerned. 

Thus  a  little  forethought  and  a  correct  plan 
are  necessary,  and  with  these  how  much  danger 
and  misery  are  avoided — how  much  comfort  and 
safety  is  secured  !  It  is  like  every  other  enter- 
prise which  men  undertake  :  there  is  one  right 
way  and  a  great  many  wrong  ones ;  and,  in  or- 


116  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-ROOK. 

der  to  avoid  the  latter  and  to  secure  the  former, 
one  must  make  use  of  the  knowledge  and  expe- 
rience of  others ;  being,  however,  at  the  same 
time  very  careful  to  know  whom  you  consult, 
and  on  whom  you  may  rely  for  correct  informa- 
tion and  advice. 

Before  concluding  this  rather  lengthy  note, 
for  the  length  of  which,  however,  the  subject 
matter  must  apologize,  I  should  propose  to  you 
to  republish,  in  extenso,  the  excellent  "  Address 
of  the  Irish  Emigrant  Society."  It  is  a  docu- 
ment full  of  the  most  valuable  remarks,  advisa- 
tory  to  the  Irish  immigrant,  and  may  not  only 
be  useful  to  those  coming  from  Ireland,  but  to 
those  also  from  other  parts  of  Great  Britain. 
Sincerely  hoping  that  your  book  may  prove  use- 
ful to  those  for  whom  it  is  designed,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  remunerate  your  enterprize, 
I  am,  sir,  with  sincere  regard, 

Yours,  respectfully, 


ADDRESS 

Of  the  Irish  Emigrant  Society  of  New- York,  to  the 
People  of  Ireland. 

As  an  inducement  to  a  proper  consideration  of  the 
remarks  which  follow,  it  is  perhaps  necessary  that 
you  should  be  informed  of  the  objects  for  which  our 
Society  was  organized.  During  many  years',  the 
evils  inflicted  by  fraud  and  violence  upon  the  class 
of  persons  emigrating  to  America  from  Ireland,  and 
the  difficulties  incidental  to  their  utter  ignorance  of 
the  people,  laws,  and  institutions  of  our  country, 
rendered  their  position  upon  their  first  arrival  amongst 


ADDRESS    TO    IRISH    EMIGRANTS.  117 

us  truly  pitiable.  For  the  purpose  of  alleviating  to 
a  degree  their  distresses,  certain  charitably  disposed 
persons,  being  Irishmen,  and  their  descendants  in 
the  city  of  New- York,  established  this  Society,  and 
obtained  an  act  of  Incorporation  for  the  expressed 
object  of  affording  advice,  information,  aid  and  pro- 
tection to  emigrants  from  Ireland. 

It  is  by  that  Society  you  are  now  addressed. 

The  greatness  of  the  numbers  arriving  in  large 
bodies  at  our  port,  is  such,  that  we  find  it  impossible 
amid  the  crowd  and  in  the  confusion  and  bustle  of 
landing  to  address  each,  and  hence,  cannot  secure  to 
all  that  advice  and  care  which  we  desire,  and  which 
their  liability  to  imposition  and  mistake  renders  ne- 
cessary ;  and  therefore,  we  take  this  method  to  avoid 
the  difficulty,  and  to  present  the  matters  to  which 
we  wish  your  attention  directed. 

We  desire,  preliminarily,  to  caution  you  against 
entertaining  any  fantastic  idea,  such  as  that  magnifi- 
cence, ease  and  wealth,  are  universally  enjoyed  in 
this  country.  We  are  apprehensive,  that  you  may 
be  deluded  by  tales  of  prosperity,  delineated  as 
princely,  and  declared  certain  of  attainment ;  origi- 
nated on  the  one  hand  by  men  who  criminally  do  so 
with  a  selfish  purpose,  and  upon  the  other,  by  those 
who  thoughtlessly  do  so  to  gratify  their  own  vanity. 
Thus  they  may  be  indirectly  suggested,  through  un- 
suspected agencies,  by  the  influence  of  parties,  who, 
if  they  secure  your  passage  money,  are  utterly  in- 
different, should  you  be  landed  here  diseased  and 
poverty-stricken,  with  no  prospect  save  a  lingering 
sickness,  a  loathsome  death,  and  a  pauper's  grave. 
Another,  a  guiltless,  and  by  you  unsuspected  source 
of  deception  is,  perhaps,  the  letters  and  remittances 
you  receive  from  your  friends  who  have  heretofore 
migrated  ;  some  may  write,  that  they  have  become 
"  government  officers,"  who,  in  truth,  are  employed 
as  mere  day  laborers,  in  the  meanest  and  most  menial 
capacities  which,  by  a  stretch  of  perversion,  can  be 


118  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

so  described.  Others  may  send  you  glowing  ac- 
counts of  the  elevation  of  their  prospects,  who  in 
fact  are  but  "  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  wa- 
ter," earning  no  more  than  the  necessaries  of  life. 
Others  again  may,  and  to  the  credit  of  your  country 
people  it  is  that  a  great  proportion  of  them  do,  send 
their  friends  in  Ireland  money,  which  is  not  over- 
plus funds,  but  is  the  proceeds  of  hard  labor  long 
continued,  which  have  been  accumulated  only  by 
exercising  the  most  parsimonious  economy. 

Dismiss  entirely  from  your  regard  all  stories  which 
may  be  of  interested  origin,  and  take  with  many 
grains  of  allowance  the  representations  of  your 
friends.  It  is  natural,  persons  who  have  adventured 
to  leave  home  and  to  seek  their  fortunes  in  a  foreign, 
and  far  distant  country,  to  give  highly  colored  ac- 
counts of  a  success,  which  in  reality,  has  been  but 
the  obtaining  a  laborious  employment,  and  it  is 
equally  natural  for  those  who  send  you  money,  to 
wish  rather  that  you  should  suppose  it  a  reckless 
gift  from  the  lavishness  of  wealth,  than  a  charitable 
donation  from  the  sympathy  of  poverty. 

Against  all  these  varied  sources  of  deception,  and 
as  well  against  any  uneasy,  aimless,  and  indefinable 
desire  to  come  hither,  which  may  possess  your  own 
minds,  we  give  you  full  warning. 

Among  us  are  all  degrees  and  stations,  the  rich 
and  the  poor,  the  proud  and  the  humble,  in  the  same 
manner,  though,  perhaps,  not  to  the  same  extent, 
nor  in  the  same  degree,  as  they  exist  in  European 
society. 

The  advantages  of  emigration  apply  more  parti- 
cularly than  to  any  other  to  the  mechanical,  agri- 
cultural and  laboring  classes,  and  to  persons,  male 
and  female,  proposing  to  engage  in  domestic  employ- 
ments. 

If,  after  having  well  and  sufficiently  considered 
the  warning  we  have  tendered,  which  you  are  merely 
to  take  as  a  suggestion  to  reflection,  you  feel  that 


ADDRESS  TO  IRISH  EMIGRANTS.  119 

you  can  reasonably  and  sensibly  conclude  to  come 
to  our  country,  it  must  be  expecting  not  luxury  but 
labor,  with  your  minds  determinedly  fixed  to  en- 
compass difficulties,  to  endure  hardships,  and  to  en- 
counter adversities ;  it  must  be  with  a  spirit  pre- 
pared to  conquer  impatience,  and  to  avoid  discou- 
ragement, at  even  what  may  seem  insuperable  ob- 
stacles. 

It  is  needless  to  expatiate  further  upon  the  care 
necessary  to  be  exercised  in  considering  the  profit  or 
loss  you  may  sustain  by  the  change  of  location ;  were 
we  to  exhaust  our  time  and  your  patience  by  a  more 
lengthened  treatise,  it  would  amount  to  but  the  effect 
that  care  is  necessary — all  the  illustrations  we  furnish 
of  our  meaning  would  probably  meet  but  the  case  of 
one  in  a  thousand  of  your  number,  and  would  be  in- 
applicable to  the  rest,  and  hence  the  great  body  of 
your  people  would  be  by  them  in  no  measure  en- 
lightened. We  therefore  conclude,  by  saying,  that 
you  must  never  forget  that  when  you  emigrate,  you- 
leave  home. 

Supposing  you  to  have  properly  or  otherwise  con- 
cluded to  come  here,  it  is  one  of  the  objects  of  our 
organization  to  offer  you  the  best  advice  we  can  upon 
the  course  you  should  pursue.  We  first  mention  a 
danger  which  besets  you  near  home.  You  may  be 
disposed  to  think,  and  will,  by  many  of  those  about 
you,  near  tho  time  of  starting,  be  advised  that  one  of 
the  important  preparations  for  your  journey  is  the 
purchase  of  American  money.  If  you  have  money 
in  British  gold  do  not  change  it  all,  and  if  at  all,  not 
for  bank  bills  nor  drafts  upon  America.  If  you  do, 
you  will  to  almost  a  certainty  have  palmed  off  upon 
you  in  exchange  some  worthless  trash  which  you 
will  upon  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  discover  to  be 
mere  rubbish.  British  gold  can  be  used  herewith  as 
much  convenience  as  our  own  currency.  Depend 
upon  this,  notwithstanding  your  own  preconceived 
notions — the  apprehensions  of  your  friends — and  the 
representations  of  merely  interested  parties.  Many 


120  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

instances  have  come  to  our  knowledge  in  which  per- 
sons have  attempted  to  obtain  American  money  in 
Liverpool  and  elsewhere,  and  almost  invariably  they 
have  been  defrauded. 

Many  come  with  the  expectation  of  meeting  here 
the  countenance  of  what  they  believed  to  be  influ- 
ential and  powerful  friends.  Such  a  hope  is  futile, 
unless  the  friend  depended  upon  has  been  a  long  re- 
sident here,  and  during  his  residence  has  been  of 
sober  and  correct  deportment,  and  then  unless  he 
holds  out  to  you  offers  of  his  assistance.  If  upon 
your  leaving  home,  you  have  a  friend  here  whose 
qualities  come  up  to  that  standard,  and  calculate 
upon  his  aid,  you  must  be  prepared  before  your  de- 
parture with  the  surest  and  most  minute  directions 
you  are  able  to  obtain  for  finding  him  upon  your  ar- 
rival. Often  persons  have  landed  here  apparently 
with  the  expectation  that  by  merely  asking  for  their 
friend  of  the  first' man  they  met,  they  would  be  en- 
abled to  find  him  ;  whereas,  the  fact  is,  that  it  would 
be  difficult  if  they  had  the  number  and  name  of  the 
street  in  which  he  resided ;  and  it  would  be  impos- 
sible without.  It  is  highly  advisable  that  the  direc- 
tions by  which  you  are  to  be  governed  in  seeking 
him,  be  written,  the  difference  often  existing  in  pro- 
nunciation may  lead  to  misunderstanding.  We 
should  advise,  however,  that  all  calculations  upon 
friends  and  friendship  be  laid  aside  in  considering 
the  expediency  of,  and  should  be  regarded  as  a  mere 
convenience,  minor  to  the  advantages  expected  to  be 
obtained  by  emigration.  Every  individual  emigra- 
ting will  find  that  he  has  but  his  own  exertions  upon 
which  to  depend. 

Upon  the  coming  of  the  ship  into  the  harbor  of 
New- York,  or  upon  her  arrival  at  the  wharf,  she 
will  be  boarded  by  an  agent  of  this  Society,  by 
whose  advice  and  directions  it  will  be  highly  advan- 
tageous for  you  to  be  guided.  She  will  also  be  board- 
ed by  a  large  number  of  persons  known  as  "  run- 
ners," (many  of  whom  are  Irishmen,  speaking  the 


ADDRESS  TO  IRISH  EMIGRANTS.  121 

Irish  language,)  who  make  it  a  business  in  this  man- 
ner to  apply  to  emigrants  to  lake  board  and  lodging 
B,t  the  different  boarding-houses  for  which  they  may 
be  employed.  Of  these  persons  beware  !  They  will 
agree  to  furnish  you  with  good  board  at  a  trifling 
price,  and  after  having  got  you  and  your  baggage  at 
their  houses,  will  give  you  a  meagre  entertainment, 
and  upon  your  leaving,  will  demand  two,  three,  or 
four  times  what  they  agreed  and  what  is  reasonable, 
and  will  refuse  to  permit  your  baggage  and  furniture 
to  leave  their  premises  until  their  extortionate  charge 
be  paid,  and  will,  perhaps,  maltreat  you  besides.  It 
is  much  easier  for  you,  by  following  our  directions, 
to  avoid  such  difficulty,  than  for  us  to  relieve  you 
after  you  have  become  involved. 

These  runners  will  tell  you  to  have  a  care  how 
you  deal  with  our  Society — that  we  "  wish  to  rob 
you,"  and  other  gross  and  monstrous  slanders,  the 
falsity  of  which  you  will  perceive,  when  we  inform 
you  that  no  charge  is  made,  nor  money  received  by 
the  Society  or  any  of  its  agents — that  all  the  services 
rendered  are  rendered  gratuitously. 

Our  agent,  who  boards  your  vessel,  will  make  all 
arrangements  for  you,  if  you  will  but  listen  to  him, 
and  be  governed  by  his  directions. 

This  Society  keeps  an  office  at  No.  22  Spruce- 
street,  in  the  city  of  New- York,  where,  at  all  times, 
every  advice  and  information  as  to  boarding-houses 
and  their  proper  rates  of  charges,  as  to  travelling 
routes  and  their  expenses,  &c.,  will  be  readily  and 
gratuitously  furnished  to  such  of  you  as  apply. 

Supposing  you  to  have  avoided  the  fraudulent 
boarding-house-keepers,  by  pursuing  our  advice. and 
the  directions  of  our  agent,  there  is  another  species 
of  fraud  to  which  you  are  exposed,  and  which,  while 
in  its  practice  it  is  equally  specious  in  its  conse- 
quences, is  infinitely  more  embarrassing.  Many 
persons  (the  greater  proportion  of  whom  also  are  of 
Irish  birth)  have  established  in  this  city  offices  where 
they  pretend  to  conduct  agencies  for  certain  rail 

11 


122  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

roads,  steamboats,  and  other  modes  of  transportation, 
and  they  also  employ  "  runners,"  who  will  board 
your  ship.  Should  you  unadvisedly  deal  with  them 
you  will  surely  be  defrauded.  They  will  sell  you 
tickets  which  purport  to  entitle  you,  with  your  bag- 
gage, to  a  passage  to  your  destination.  Upon  the  faith 
of  this  you  start  upon  your  inland  journey,  and  having 
reached,  perhaps,  the  fir«t  stopping  place,  are  in- 
formed that  the  ticket  is  utterly  worthless,  or  may 
be  called  upon  to  pay  freight  for  your  baggage,  and 
find  the  charge  now  demanded  exceeding  in  amount 
that  which  you  have  already  paid.  It  requires  no- 
thing from  us  to  picture  to  your  minds  the  distress 
to  which  you  may  be  thus  exposed ;  perhaps  you  may 
be  out  of  money,  and  sick  and  weary,  and  in  that 
state  landed  in  a  lonely  part  of  the  country,  or  among 
a  people,  who,  by  constantly  seeing  such  things,  have 
grown  to  a  degree  callous.  It  is  sufficient,  however, 
for  the  present  to  you,  who,  without  care  may  be- 
come victims  of  such  frauds,  to  be  put  upon  your 
guard  against  them,  without  further  enlarging  upon 
the  subject. 

With  another — a  general  remark — we  shall  close. 
You  may  have  full  dependence  upon  your  own  in- 
genuity and  knowledge  of  the  world,  but  they  are 
entirely  insufficient  to  enable  you  to  avoid  the  ever 
varying  devices  of  rner,  who  make  knavery  their 
study,  and  plunder  their  livelihood.  In  perhaps  the 
very  cases  in  which  a  man  of  prudence  would  be 
disposed,  if  uninformed,  to  venture  upon  his  own 
judgment,  the  greatest  danger  exists.  You  will, 
therefore,  find  much  advantage  in  consulting  with 
us,  and  by  doing  nothing  which  involves  the  outlay 
of  money,  or  the  incurring  of  responsibility  without 
our  advice  and  approval. 

We  hope,  that  by  presenting  a  dark*  prospect,  we 
may  not  dishearten  any  whose  only  hope  consists  in 
coming  to  this  country.  It  is  a  land  of  plenty,  but 
the  seed  must  be  sown,  and.the  crop  must  be  gathered 
with  equal  labor  here  as  in  other  parts  of  the  earth. 


ADDRESS  TO  IRISH  EMIGRANTS.  123 

It  is  a  land  where  honesty,  sobriety,  and  industry, 
are  sure  of  their  reward — but  where  poverty  is  sub- 
ject to  the  same  trials  and  difficulties  as  elsewhere- 

Nor  must  you  conclude  from  the  fact  that  there 
are  men  here  who  make  it  a  business,  systematically, 
to  defraud  emigrants  upon  their  arrival,  that  this  is  a 
people  not  worthy  of  respect.  You  must  reflect  that, 
by  natural  increase  and  by  a  great  influx  of  popula- 
tion, this  has  become  a  large  community, — that  it  is 
inherent  to  every  large  community,  to  have  lazy  and 
worthless  men  among  its  members,  who  prefer  cheat- 
ing to  working,  and  that  emigrants,  by  their  igno- 
rance, and  often  by  an  overweening  confidence  in 
their  own  shrewdness,  afford  a  practicable  and  pro- 
fitable field  for  the  practice  of  piratical  industry. 

You  must  remember  that  when  you  come  here,  it 
is  to  a  people,  who,  though  tney  knew  you  not  here- 
tofore, extend  to  you  the  hand  of  friendship,  and  in- 
vite you  to  partake  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
manhood. 

New- York,  March  27,  1848. 

GREGORY  DILLON,  President. 

JOSEPH  STUART,      ) 

HUGH  KELLY,          V  Vice- Presidents. 

JAMES  MATHEWS,    ) 

CHARLES  SWEENEY,  Secretary. 

WILLIAM  REDMOND,  Treasurer. 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 

Felix  Ingoldsby,  James  Reyburn, 

Charles  M.  Nanry,  John  Nicholson, 

K.  B.  Daly,  John  Manning, 

Thomas  Swanwick,  James  Olwell, 

Terrence  Donnelly,  Charles  E.  Shea, 

William  Watson,"  Francis  Mann. 


124  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 


AN   ACT 

FOR    THE    PROTECTION    OF    EMIGRANTS    ARRIVING    IN    THE 
STATE    OF    NEW-YORK. 

[Passed  April  11,  1848,  three-fifths  being  present.] 


The  people  of  the  State  of  New-York,  represented  in  Sen- 
ate and  Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows  : 

SECTION  1.  The  Commissioners  of  Emiora- 

O 

tion  are  hereby  authorized  and  empowered  to 
lease  or  purchase  suitable  docks  or  piers  in  the 
city  of  New-York,  and  to  erect  necessary  enclo- 
sures thereon,  and  such  docks  and  piers  to  be  ap- 
propriated and  set  apart  for  the  exclusive  use  of 
landing  emigrant  alien  passengers  ;  but  no  docks 
shall  be  purchased  or  leased  wilhout  the  approval 
and  consent  of  the  Common  Council  of  said 
city,  and  the  expense  thereof,  not  to  exceed 
fifteen  thousand  dollars,  shall  be  paid  out  of  the 
moneys  paid  in  pursuance  of  the  provisions  of 
an  act  entitled  "  An  Act  concerning  passengers 
in  vessels  coming  to  the  city  of  New-York,  pass- 
ed May  5,  1847,"  and  be  considered  and  charg- 
ed as  applied  to  the  general  purposes  of  the  said 
act.  On  application  being  made  to  them  by  any 
steamboat  or  lighter  proprietor,  who  is  a  citizen 
of  good  moral  character,  and  shall  give  good  se- 
curity in  a  sum  not  exceeding  five  hundred  dol- 
lars, to  comply  with  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
the  said  Commissioners  are  hereby  authorized 
and  directed  to  grant  licenses,  to  receive  alien 


EMIGRATION   LAWS. 


passengers  and  their  baggage  from  vessels  arriv- 
ing at  the  port  of  New-  York,  subject  to  quaran- 
tine, or  from  the  passengers'  docks  at  quarantine, 
to  be  landed  at  the  emigrant  piers  or  docks  afore- 
said ;  and  the  said  Commissioners  shall  have 
power  to  revoke  the  license  of  any  person  violat- 
ing the  provisions  of  this  act.  And  every  cap- 
tain of  a  steamboat  or  lighter  not  properly  licen- 
sed for  such  purpose,  pursuant  to  this  section, 
who  shall  convey  any  emigrant  passengers  from 
any  such  vessel,  shall  be  liable  to  a  penalty  of 
one  hundred  dollars  for  each  and  every  offence, 
to  be  recovered  by  the  said  Commissioners  of 
Emigration. 

§  2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  every  ship-master, 
owner,  or  consignee  bringing  to  the  port  of  New- 
York  any  alien  emigrants,  steerage,  or  second- 
cabin  passengers  in  vessels  not  subject  to  quaran- 
tine, to  cause  the  same  with  their  baggage  to  be 
landed  on  the  emigrant  piers  aforesaid,  either 
directly  from  the  vessel  or  by  means  of  some 
steamboats  or  lighters  licensed  as  aforesaid  ;  and 
the  landing  of  them  upon  any  other  pier  or 
wharf,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  less  than 
one  hundred  dollars,  which  fine  may  be  recover- 
ed of  the  master,  owner,  or  consignee  of  such 
ship  or  vessel.  The  Commissioners  of  Emigra- 
tion are  hereby  empowered  to  make  all  neces- 
sary regulations  for  the  preservation  of  order, 
and  the  admission  to,  or  exclusion  from  said  dock 
of  any  person  or  persons,  excepting  such  as  are 
duly  licensed  ;  and  any  person  violating  any  of 
such  regulations  shall  be  liable  to  a  penalty  of  one 
hundred  dollars  for  each  and  every  offence,  to  be 

11* 


EMIGRANT  S    HAND-BOOK. 


recovered  by  the  said  Commissioners  of  Emi- 


gration. 

o 


3.  All  persons  keeping  houses  in  any  of  the 
cities  of  this  state,  for  the  purpose  of  boarding 
emigrant  passengers,  shall  be  required  to  have  a 
license  for  said  purpose,  from  the  Mayor  of  the 
city  in  which  such  houses  are  located  ;  and  each 
person  so  licensed  shall  pay  the  said  city  the  sum 
of  ten  dollars  per  annum,  and  shall  give  bonds 
satisfactory  to  said  Mayor,  with  one  or  more 
sureties,  in  the  penal  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars 
for  their  good  behavior,  and  said  Mayor  is  here- 
by authorized  to  revoke  said,  license  for  cause. 
Every  keeper  of  such  boarding-house  shall,  under 
a  penalty  of  fifty  dollars,  cause  to  be  kept  con- 
spicuously posted  in  the  public  rooms  of  such 
house,  in  the  English,  German,  Dutch,  French, 
and  Welsh  languages,  a  list  of  the  rates  of  prices 
which  will  be  charged  emigrants  per  day  and 
week  for  boarding  and  lodging,  and  also  the 
rates  for  separate  meals ;  the  keeper  of  such 
house  shall  also  file  a  copy  of  said  list  in  the  city 
of  New-York,  in  the  office  of  the  Commission- 
ers of  Emigration,  and  in  each  of  the  other 
cities  of  this  state  with  the  Mayor  of  said  city  ; 
and  the  keeper  of  any  emigrant  boarding-house 
who  shall  neglect  to  post  a  list  of  rates,  or  who 
shall  charge  or  receive,  or  permit  or  suffer  to  be 
charged  or  received,  for  the  use  of  such  keeper, 
any  greater  sum  than  according  to  the  rates  or 
prices  so  posted,  shall,  upon  conviction  thereof, 
be  deprived  of  his  or  her  license,  and  be  punish- 
ed by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  fifty  dollars,  and  not 
exceeding  one  hundred  dollars,  to  be  recovered 


EMIGRATION    LAWS.  127 

in  the  city  of  New-York  by  the  Commissioners 
of  Emigration,  and  in  the  other  cities  of  this 
state  by  the  Mayors  thereof. 

§  4.  No  keeper  of  any  emigrant  boarding- 
house  shall  have  any  lien  upon  the  baggage  or 
effects  of  any  emigrant  for  boarding,  lodging, 
storage,  or  on  any  other  account  whatever  ;  arid 
upon  complaint  being  made  upon  oath  before  the 
Mayor  or  any  police  magistrate  of  the  city  in 
which  such  boarding-house  is  located,  that  the 
luggage  or  effects  of  any  emigrant  are  detained 
by  the  keeper  of  any  emigrant  boarding-house, 
under  pretence  of  any  lien  upon  such  luggage  or 
effects,  or  on  any  claim  or  demand  against  the 
owner  or  owners  thereof,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
the  officer  before  whom  such  complaint  is  made, 
immediately  to  issue  his  warrant,  directed  to 
any  constable  or  policeman  of  said  city,  com- 
manding him  or  them  to  bring  before  him  the 
party  against  whom  such  complaint  has  been 
made,  and  upon  conviction  thereof,  the  officer 
before  whom  such  conviction  shall  be  had,  shall 
cause  said  goods  to  be  forthwith  restored  to  the 
owner  thereof,  and  the  party  so  convicted,  shall 
be  punished  by  a  fine  not  less  than  fifty  dollars, 
and  not  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars,  and  shall 
be  committed  to  the  city  prison  until  the  said 
fine  shall  be  paid,  and  until  such  luggage  or  ef- 
fects shall  be  delivered  to  such  emigrants. 

§  5.  No  person  shall,  in  any  city  in  this  state, 
solicit  emigrant  passengers  or  their  luggage  for 
emigrant  boarding-houses,  passenger  offices,  for- 
warding or  transportation  lines,  without  the 
license  of  the  Mayor  of  such  city,  for  which  he 


128  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

• 

shall  pay  the  sum  of  twenty  dollars  per  annum, 
and  give  satisfactory  bonds  to  said  Mayor  in  the 
penal  sum  of  three  hundred  dollars  as  security 
for  his  good  behavior.  Every  person  so  licens- 
ed shall  wear  in  a  conspicuous  place  about  his 
person  a  badge  or  plate  of  such  character,  and  in 
such  manner  as  said  Mayor  shall  prescribe,  with 
the  words  "  licensed  emigrant  runner"  inscribed 
thereon,  with  his  name  and  the  number  of  his 
license  ;  no  person  who  is  not  of  approved  good 
moral  character  shall  be  licensed  as  such  runner. 
Every  person  who  shall  solicit  alien  emigrant 
passengers  or  others  for  the  benefit  of  boarding- 
houses,  passenger  •  offices  or  forwarding  lines, 
upon  any  street,  lane,  alley,  or  upon  any  dock, 
pier  or  public  highway,  or  any  other  place  with- 
in the  corporate  bounds  of  any  city  in  this  state, 
or  upon  any  waters  adjacent  thereto,  over  which 
any  of  said  cities  may  have  jurisdiction,  without 
such  license,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misde- 
meanor, and  shall  be  punished  by  imprisonment 
in  the  county  prison  or  jail  not  less  than  three 
months,  nor  exceeding  one  year,  and  shall  also 
forfeit  his  license. 

§  7.  No  person  or  persons  shall  exercise  the 
vocation  of  booking  emigrant  passengers,  or 
taking  money  for  their  inland  fare,  or  for  the  trans- 
portation of  the  luggage  of  such  passengers,  with- 
out keeping  a  public  office  for  the  transaction  of 
such  business,  nor  without  the  license  of  the 
Mayor  of  the  city  in  which  such  office  shall  be 
located,  for  which  shall  be  paid  the  sum  of 
twenty-five  dollars  per  annum,  and  give  satisfac- 
tory bonds  in  the  penal  sum  of  one  thousand  dol- 


EMIGRATION    LAWS.  129 

lars,  to  the  Mayor  of  said  city,  as  security  for 
the  proper  manner  in  which  his  or  their  business 
shall  be  conducted,  in  forwarding  said  emigrant 
passengers,  or  their  luggage.  Every  such  office 
and  place  for  weighing  luggage,  shall  be  at  all 
times,  when  business  is  being  transactecfltherem, 
open  to  the  Commissioners  of  Emigration,  or 
their  agent,  duly  appointed.  And  no  scales  or 
weights  shall  be  used  for  such  purpose,  but  such 
as  have  been  inspected  and  sealed  by  the  City 
Inspector  of  Weights.  And  every  such  estab- 
lishment shall  have  posted  in  a  conspicuous  man- 
ner at  its  place  of  business,  in  the  English,  Ger- 
man, Dutch,  French,  and  Welsh  languages,  a 
list  of  prices,  or  rates  of  fare,  for  the  passage  of 
emigrant  aliens,  and  the  price  per  hundred 
pounds,  for  transportation  of  their  luggage  to  the 
principal  places  to  which  the  proprietors  thereof 
undertake  to  convey  such  passengers,  and  shall 
also  deliver  a  copy  of  such  list  to  the  agent  of  the 
Commissioners  of  Emigration  in  any  city  where 
such  agencies  shall  be  established  ;  and  every 
person  or  company  who  shall  charge  or  receive, 
or  allow  to  be  charged  or  received  by  any  person 
in  his  or  their  employment,  a  greater  amount 
than  is  specified  in  said  list  of  prices,  or  who 
shall  defraud  any  emigrant  in  the  weight  of  his 
luggage,  shall,  together  with  all  other  persons 
concerned  in  said  fraud,  be  punished  by  a  fine 
not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars,  and  not  ex- 
ceeding two  hundred  dollars,  which  money,  when 
collected,  shall  be  paid  into  the  city  treasury  of 
said  city,  except  in  the  city  of  New-York,  where 
it  shall  be  paid  to  the  Commissioners  of  Emigra- 


130  EMIGRANT'S  HAND-BOOK. 

tion;  and  any  person  or  company  receiving  money 
as  aforesaid,  for  the  passage  of  emigrant  aliens, 
or  for  the  transportation  of  their  luggage,  with- 
out such  office  and  license,  or  who  shall  refuse 
admission  as  aforesaid,  to  such  office  or  place  of 
weighing  luggage  during  the  times  of  transacting 
business  therein,  or  who  shall  neglect  or  refuse 
to  post  the  said  list  of  rates  as  aforesaid,  or  who 
shall  neglect  or  refuse  to  furnish  a  copy  thereof, 
as  aforesaid,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misde- 
meanor, and  shall  be  punished  with  imprison- 
ment in  the  county  prison,  for  a  period  not  less 
than  three  months,  nor  exceeding  one  year. 

§  8.  No  importance. 

§  9.  The  penalties  and  forfeitures  prescribed 
by  this  act,  except  as  is  herein  before  otherwise 
provided,  shall  be  sued  for  and  collected  in  the 
name  of  the  People  of  this  State,  and  applied  in 
the  same  manner  specified  in  the  foregoing  sec- 
tion, except  so  far  as  this  act  applies  to  the  city 
of  New-York,  where  the  same  may  be  sued  for 
and  recovered  with  costs  of  suit,  before  any 
court  having  cognizance  thereof,  by  and  in  the 
name  of  the  Commissioners  of  Emigration  ;  and 
when  so  recovered  shall  constitute  a  part  of  the 
fund,  and  be  disposed  of  in  the  same  manner  as 
commutation  money  now  derived  from  emigrant 
passengers. 

§  10.  The  Commissioners  of  Emigration  shall 
annually  make  and  return  to  the  legislature,  with 
their  annual  report,  an  affidavit  in  and  by  which 
they  shall  respectively  swear  or  affirm,  each  for 
himself,  to  the  correctness  of  such  report,  and 
that  he  hath  not  directly  or  indirectly  been  inte- 


EMIGRATION    LAWS.  .      131 

rested  in  the  business  of  boarding  emigrants,  in 
the  transportation  of  any  emigrant  passengers 
through  any  portion  of  the  interior  of  this  coun- 
try, or  had  made  or  received  directly  or  indirect- 
ly, any  gain,. profit  or  advantage  by  or  through 
the  purchase  of  supplies,  the  granting  of  any 
contract  or  contracts  herein,  or  licenses,  privilege 
or  privileges,  or  the  employment  of  any  officer, 
servant  or  agent,  mechanic,  laborer  or  other  per- 
son in  the  business  under  the  control  of  said 
Commissioners. 

§11.  In  case  the  moneys  now  appropriated 
bylaw  for  the  support  of  the  fever  and  small-pox 
hospitals  at  quarantine,  shall  be  exhausted  during 
the  recess  of  the  legislature,  the  Commissioners 
of  Emigration  may  use  such  portions  of  the  com- 
mutation money  collected  pursuant  to  act  of  May 
5th,  1847,  for  the  support  of  said  hospitals,  as  the 
Governor,  Attorney  General,  and  Comptroller 
may  certify  to  be  necessary  for  such  purpose. 
12.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


STATE  OF  NEW  YORK, 
Secretary's  Office. 

I  have  compared  the  preceding  with  an  origi- 
nal law  on  file  in  this  Office,  and  do  certify 
that  the  same  is  a  correct  transcript  there- 
from and  of  the  whole  of  said  original. 

Given  under  my  hand  and  seal  of  office 
at  the  city  of  Albany,  the  eleventh 
day  of  April,  A.  D.,1848. 

[L.  S.J  CHRISTOPHER  MORGAN, 

Secretary  of  State. 


132 


GENERAL   ROUTES. 


Route    from    New  -York 
Philadelphia,  via.  R.  1 
To  Newark    

to 
,. 
9 
31 
59 
69 
88 

From  Boston  to    Ne- 
via.  Fall  River  an 
port. 
To  Fall  River,  via.  ) 
Railroad  ....    \ 

w-y 

d  A 

18 
165 

'ork, 

fay- 
53 
71 
236 
5.B. 
24 
52 
!  74 
111 
IK) 
145 

New-  Brunswick.  . 
Trenton.....  .  . 

22 
28 
10 
19 

Bristol  

Steamboat  to  Newport 
"    to  New-  York. 

Philadelphia..  . 

From  New-  York  to  P 
pliia,via.  Amboy. 
S.  B.  to  South  Amboy 
Camden  and  Amboy  £ 

hila 

43 
19 

del- 
VS 

71 
90 
'tts- 
ail- 

83 
109 
172 
255 
291 
395 

From.  N.  York  to  Albany  ,  > 
To  Piermont  

West  Point  

2S 
22 
37 
5 
29 

Poughkeepsie  
Catskill  

To  Burlington,  Phila. 

Hudson.  

From  Philadelphia  tc 
burgh,via.  Columbi 
roaa,  and  Canal. 
Ra'lroad  to  Columbia. 
Canal  to  Harrisburg-. 

»  Pi 
aR 

26 
63 
83 
36 
104 

From,  Albany  toBiijfal 
To  Schenactedy...  

'0,1 

51 
21 
53 
26 
78 
43 
31 

l.R. 
16 

73 
94 
147 
173 
251 
294 
325 

Little  Falls  

LFtica  

Syracuse  

Hollidaysburg  

Auburn  .......... 

Rochesler  

Attica  

Rnffolr* 

From  Baltimore  to  Was/it 
ton,  D.  C.}  by  Railroad 
To  Junction.     .... 

ng- 

20 
34 

40 

From  Albany  to  Buffc 
Canal. 
To  Schenectady  

ilo, 

3£ 
IS 
2S 
61 
34 
3f 
2S 
2C 
It 
2S 
31 

via. 

\  30 
i  69 
88 
111) 
171 
205 
210 
269 
2S'.) 
304 
333 
364 

14 
6 

Canajoharie  

T    i4tlsi      l-'.Jl    • 

Prom  Boston  to  Albany, 
Worcester  and  Western  H 
To  Worcester  ..... 

via. 
'..R. 
44 

98 
151 
167 
200 
ork, 
Tew- 

98 
124 
160 
,240 

Utica         .....  

Syracuse.  ........ 

Montezuma  

54 
53 
14 
33 

"p;ticfit*}A 

Palmyra  

Rochester  

Brockport  

Albion 

From  Boston   to  Nei 
via.  Springfield,  an 
Haven. 
Railroad  to  Springfield 

v-1 
dT\ 

26 
36 

80 

Lockport  

Buffalo  

From  New  -Orleans 
Louis,  (steamboi 
To  Baton  Rouge  

Natchez,  Miss...  : 
Vicksburg         .  .  ] 

to  i 
it.) 

L61 
L07 
>12 
96 
82 
.67 
75 
.72] 

St. 

138 
299 
406 
618 
714 
796 
963 
LOSS 
L210 

New-Haven  

Steamboat  to  N.  York 

From  Boston  to  Net 
via.  Providence  anc. 
ington. 
Railroad  to  Providence 
Stonington 

v-York, 
I  Ston- 

42 
47|  89 
125J214 

Napoleon,  Ark.-.S 
Helena,  Ark  .... 

Memphis,  Tenn.. 
New-Madrid,  Mo  ] 
Cairo,  111  

Steamboat  to  N.  York 

St.  Louis,  Mo...  I 

GENERAL    ROUTES. 


133 


Tajkfaflf '  Routes  and  Distances,  <witk  Western  Passage 
Company's  Rates. 

New- York  to  Chicago,  viri.  Buffalo. 


'  'iFKOM  NEW-  YORK  TO 

<  '  !    ;  :.-    Mjj  •  •  •  •.    UG 

Miles. 

Steer- 
age 
Fare. 

Cabin 
Fare. 

I      .                                   4          1  f               i   ,t  t        I 
t  i  (  \  .     1                              •»     m 

Albanv  and  Irov.  . 

150 
260 
321 
419 
483 
514 
604 
704 
734 
814 
810 
850 
1145 
1445 
1465 
1477 
1525 

$0  75 
1  75 
2  00 
2  00 
2  00 
2  00 
4  00 
4  50 
5  00 
5  00 
5  00 
5  00 
8  00 
8  00 
8  00 
8  00 
8  00 

$1  50 
2  00 
3  00 
3  50 
3  50 
3  50 
6  00 
8  50 
9  50 
9  50 
9  50 
9  50 
15  50 
15  50 
15  50 
15  50 
15  50 

Syracuse.  7,r  

Rochester,. 

T      r<L-      :nt    ^ 

t*  S-  "P^  '   "I"  """"ft""!  
Buffalo.,.,,.....^  

iv  pi  o      r*^*^ 

Htiifon  and  Salidu&kyi  ._  

-«   ^        !                ,                                     r        ,             1      I 

Moproe.,  .,.,..  .  .  ,  P  

!Mil\vayJ£ie  .................... 

Per  100 
Extra 
uggage 


.  Wabnsh  Canal. 


Mil 


i  ,  ,   '1 


TO 


To!  edo  ............  .i.. 


•   ••«••••»•«    •  •  •  •  •  J 

pi-       MO    I*       M)ri 
\g. ..............  1 

«t^egd:'j.!..;.;:.'...,:J:l..i 

Defiance..         ,.l.       ]i>.. 


'Juifctiorr....,']'j .'...!. '.'11' 

•AniweiJ.:...1. 1. '.......... 

State  lAne....L.'. 

Fork  Wiylfte..'.. .. 

JTL.^.V'::!'!."  ;;;;*."" 

i  -  * 


;  ?,v 


'!:<<?»• 




«'  """";"""""  "" 


Covin^bn^Jj/ijru"^ 


Miles 


814 

823 

S35 

-872 

•881 

892 

898 

908 

943 

955 

996 

1010 

1018 

1036 

1062 

1076 


Steer- 

age 

Fare. 


$5  00 


Cabin 
Fare. 


Per  100 
Ibs.  Ext 
luggage 


50 

5  90 

6  25 
6  25 
6  25 
6  50 


7 
7 

7 


00 
38 
50 


8  00 
8  00 
8  00 
8  50 

8  ' 

9  00 


$9  50 
10  00 
10  00 
10  62 
10  82 

10  88 

11  18 

11  58 

12  00 

12  36 

13  12 
13  40 

13  56 

14  00 
14  36 
14  75 


10 
40 
40 
50 


1  50 


62 
62 
62 
68 
75 
82 
90 
90 
94 
00 


2  06 


134 


EMIGRANT'S  HAND-ROOK. 


Now- York  1o  Cincinnati)  via.  Ohio  Canal* 


FROM  NEW-YORK  TO 

Miles. 

Steer- 
age 
Fare. 

Cabin 
Fare. 

Per  100 
Extra 

luggage 

Cleveland,  Ohio  

704 

$4   50 

$8  50 

$1  10 

Akron  

742 

4  90 

9  25 

1  38 

Clinton  

756 

5  00 

9  50 

1  41 

Massillon  

769 

5  25 

9  80 

1  42 

Zoar  

787 

5  50 

10  16 

1  44 

Rosco  

839 

6  00 

11  20 

1  58 

Dresden  

855 

6  25 

11  50 

1  58 

Newark  

880 

6  75 

12  00 

1  58 

Zanesville  

871 

6  75 

12  00 

1  58 

Hebron  

889 

6  75 

12  20 

:    1  58 

Waterloo  

913 

7  25 

12  75 

|     1  58 

.Lancaster  

928 

7  25 

12  78 

1  65 

Columbus  

936 

7  50 

13  25 

1  65 

Circleville  

937 

7  50 

13  2£ 

1  65 

Chillicothe  

962 

7  62 

13  66 

1     1  65 

Piketon  

984 

7  7S 

14  1C 

1  65 

Portsmouth  

1013 

7  75 

14  8£ 

l!     1  65 

Cincinnati.  . 

1124 

8  50 

16  OC 

!      1  9U 

New- York  to  St.  Louis,  via.  Eric  Extension  Canal* 


FROM  NEW-YORK  TO 

Miles. 

Steer- 
age 
Fare. 

Cabin 
Fare. 

Per  100 
Ibs.Ext 

luggage 

Erie  

604 

$4  00 

$6  50 

$1  10 

Walnut  Creek  

613 

4  62 

7  00 

1  25 

Junction  

649 

4  75 

7  25 

1  25 

Hartford  

656 

5  00 

7  25 

1  25 

667 

5  12 

7  50 

1  25 

Big  Bend  

679 

5  12 

7  50 

1  25 

Clarksvilltj.  ................... 

684 

5  25 

8  12 

1  25 

692 

5  25 

8  12 

1  25 

Pulaski  .  

702 

5  38 

8  44 

1  30 

Newcastle          .       ........... 

715 

5  50 

8  72 

1  30 

Beaver  .......     .............. 

740 

6  00 

9  00 

1  40 

Pittsburgh  .  ..  ... 

769 

6  50 

12  00 

1  50 

1174 

8  00 

14  50 

1  75 

JLouisville    ...   .       ........... 

1308 

9  00 

18  00 

2  00 

St.  Louis.. 

1836 

10  50 

22  00 

2  75 

GENERAL    ROUTES. 


135 


New-York  to  Cincinnati,  via.  Miami  Canal. 


FROM  NEW-YORK  TO 

Miles. 

Steer- 
age 
Fare. 

Cabin 
Fare. 

Per  100 
Extra 

luggage 

Toledo  

814 
823 
830 
840 
854 
863 
929 
943 
960 
966 
969 
975 
982 
996 
1014 
1017 
1036 
1060 

$5  00 
5  50 
5  75 
5  % 
6  00 
6  04 
6  75 
6  75 
6  75 
7  00 
7  00 
7  12 
7  25 
7  38 
7  50 
7  50 
7  62 
8  00 

$9  50 
10  00 
10  00 
10  00 
10  25 
10  62 
11  80 
12  00 
12  42 
12  56 
12  56 
12  75 
12  88 
13  13 
13  50 
13  50 
13  75 
14  75 

$1  10 
1   50 
1  50 
1  50 
1  50 
1  50 
1  68 
1  68 
1  75 
1  75 
1  75 
1  75 
1  75 
1  82 
1  82 
1  82 
1  82 
1  82 

Maumee  

Waterville  

Providence  

Napoleon  

Independence  

St.  Mary's  

Berlin  and  .Bremen       ...       ... 

Piffua.  . 

Sidney  (side  cut)  

Trov.  . 

Tippecanoe.                   ......... 

Fran  klin.  ...................... 

Midd  leton  .   .                      ...... 

Hamilton.  ..........     ........ 

Cincinnati  ......   .............. 

New-  York  to  1'm.sbsi  j  if,  .St.  l.«oiii«  and  Galena,  via. 
Philadelphia. 

FROM  NEW-YORK  TO 

Miles. 

Steer- 
age 
Fare. 

Cabin 
Fare. 

Per  100 

Ibs.Ext 
luggage 

90 

$2  25 

$3  00 

$0  50 

Lancaster.  

162 

5  50 

1  00 

Columbia  ........ 

172 

6  50 

1  13 

Harrisburg".  .....  ......  

210 

6  75 

1  25 

Lewiston   ................ 

270 

7  25 

1  38 

Hollidaysburg  

344 

7  25 

1  50 

7  50 

1  50 

Johnstown  .               ............ 

380 

8  00 

2  00 

Pittsburg  ..         .         .......  

482 

8  00 

2  50 

521 

8  50 

2  75 

\Vheeling1..   ...     .     .......... 

570 

9  00 

2  75 

Cincinnati..  .................... 

944 

9  50 

3  00 

1078 

10  00 

3  00 

St  .Louis...  .   .......             .... 

1606 

11  50 

3  25 

Galena.. 

1988 

13  00 

3  75 

136  EMIGRANT'S  HAND  BOOK. 


VALUE  OF  FOREIGN  COINS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


British  sovereign  or  pound  sterling  ..............  $4  84 

French  franc  ..................................   0  13| 

Austrian  ducat  ........  ..............  .  .........   2  28f 

--  rix  dollar  (Francis  II.,  1800)  ...........   0  99f 

do        (Hungary)  ..................    1  Ol| 

Bavarian  rix  dollar  ...........................    0  97 

Brunswick  rix  dollar  ...........................    1  OOf 

Cologne  ducat  ................................  2  24'J 

Danish  ducat  (current)  ........................    I  80£ 

-    do     (specie)  ..........................   225 

rix  dollar  (Schles  wig  and  Holstein)  .......    1 


Frankfort  ducat  ...............................    2  26 

Geneva  Pistole  (old)  .  .........................   3  95| 

do       (new)  .........................   3 


Bremen  piece  of  48  grotes  ......................  0  55 

Hamburg  rix  dollar  ...........................  1  08  J 

Hnnoverian     do          (constitution)  ..............  1   11| 

Holland  ducat  ....................  „  ...........  2  26 

florin  or  guilder  ......................  0  41 


Belgic  florin  (1790)  ............................  0 

---    do    (1816)  ............................   0 

Portugese  dobra  (12,000  reis)  ..................  16  95| 

----  crusado  (new)  .......  .  .....  .  .....  ___    0  63 

Prussian  rix  dollar  (currency)  ..................    0  70| 

do       (convention).  ____  ............    1  Olf 

--  thaler  ...............................    0  69| 

Roman  scudo.  ..,  ......  .  ..........  .  ...........    1   04^ 

Russian  ruble  (gold)  ..................  $0  73    to  0  96' 

----    do    (silver)  ..................  0  76|  to  0 

Saxony  rix  dollar  (convention  )  .................    1   00 

---        do         (current,  of  Leipsic)  ..........   059 

Sicilian  scudo  ..  .............  .  ................    0  97| 

Spanish  doubloon  .............................  15  93| 

--  dollar  (and  halves)  ....................    1  03^ 

----  American  dollars  are  of  the  same  value  generally. 

Swedish  rix  dollar  ............  .  ...............    1   09^ 

Swiss  ecu  or  rix  dollar  ........................    1  Ol£ 

-  florin  ..................................   0  27  ' 

Tound  of  the  British  Provinces  of  America.  .  400 


CATALOGUE  OF 

MAPS,   CHARTS,  BOOKS,   &C. 

PUBLISHED  BY 

J.  H.  COLTON,  NEW-YORK. 

Mounted. 

MAP  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW- YORK,  with 

parts  of  the  adjacent  country,  embracing  plans  of 
the  Cities  and  s^me  of  the  larger  Villages.  By 
D^vid  H.  Burr.— 6  sheets 60  by  50  inches.  4,00 

MAP  OF  LONG  ISLAND,  with  the  environs  of  the 
City  of  New- York,  and  the  southern  part  of  Con- 
necticut. By  J.  Calvin  Smith. — 4  sheets. .  60  by  42  3,00 

MAP  OF  THE  STATE  OF  INDIANA,  compiled 
from  the  United  States  Surveys,  by  S.  D.  King; 
exhibiting  the  sections  and  fractional  sections,  situa- 
tion and  boundaries  of  Counties,  the  location  ot 
Cities,  Villages  and  Post  Offices — Canals,  Rail- 
roads and  other  internal  improvements,  &c.  &c. — 
6  sheets 66  by  48.  10,00 

MAP  OF  THE  STATE  OF  KENTUCKY.  By 

Dr.  Luke  Munsell. — 4  sheets 53  by  41.      5  00 

SECTIONAL  MAP  OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLI- 
NOIS, compiled  from  the  United  States  Surveys. 
Also,  exhibiting  the  internal  improvements ;  dis- 
tances between  Towns,  Villages  and  Post  Offices  ; 
the  outlines  of  prairies,  woodlands,  marshes,  and 
the  lands  donated  to  the  State  by  the  Gen.  Govern- 
ment, for  the  purpose  of  internal  improvements. 
By  J.  M.  Peck,  John  Messinger  and  A.  J.  Mathew- 

son. — 2  sheets 43  by  32.      2,50 

Portable,  1,50 

MAP  OF  THE  SURVEYED  PART  OF  THE 
STATE  OF  MICHIGAN.  By  John  Farmer.— 

1  sheet 35  by  25.      2,00 

Portable,  1,50. 


Mounted* 

THE  WESTERN  TOURIST  AND  EMI- 
GRANTS' GUIDE,  through  the  States  of  Ohio, 
Michigan,  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Missouri,  and  the 
Territories  of  Wisconsin  and  Iowa,  being  an  accu- 
rate and  concise  description  of  each  state,  territory 
and  county,  with  a  Map,  showing  the  township, 
lines  of  the  United  States  Surveys,  the  boundaries 
of  counties,  position  of  villages,  &c.  By  J.  Calvin 

Smith.— 1  sheet 23  by  21. 

Book  and  Map,  1,00. 

MISSIONARY  MAP  OF  THE  WORLD,  pre- 
senting to  the  eye,  at  one  view,  the  moral  and 
religious  condition  of  the  world,  and  the  efforts  that 
are  now  making  for  its  evangelization.  It  is  so 
colored  that  all  the  principal  religions  of  the  World, 
with  the  countries  in  which  they  prevail,  and  their 
relation,  position  and  extent,  are  distinguished  at 
once,  together  with  the  principal  stations  of  the 
various  Missionary  Societies  in  our  own  and  other 
countries.  It  is  on  cloth,  each  hemisphere  six  feet 
in  diameter,  and  both  printed  on  one  piece  of  cloth 
at  one  impression,  making  a  map  with  borders  160 
by  80  inches,  and  so  finished  that  it  may  be  easily 
folded  and  conveyed  from  place  to  place,  and  sus- 
pended in  any  large  room.  160  by  80 10,00 

A  CHRONOLOGICAL  VIEWOF  THE  WORLD, 

exhibiting  the  Leading  events  of  Universal  History  ; 
the  origin  and  progress  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  the 
obituary  of  distinguished  men,  and  the  periods  in 
which  they  flourished,  together  with  an  account  of 
the  appearance  of  comets,  and  a  complete  view  of 
the  fall  of  meteoric  stones  in  all  ages,  collected 
chiefly  from  the  article  "  Chronology"  in  the  New 
Edinburgh  Enclycopedia,  edited  by  Sir  David  Brew- 
ster,  LL.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  with  an  enlarged  view  oj 
important  events,  particularly  in  regard  to  American 
History,  and  a  continuation  to  the  present*  time, 
collected  from  authentic  sources,  by  Daniel  Haskell, 


Mounted, 

A.  M.,  Editor  of  ••  flfcC|nMod>ri  TJqrv/efls&l  Qwfflew  MAI/; 
and  author  of  the/totktee):»&l&Uflg'*o)  ffceiUwte.&j;.[  T 
States  in  the 


A  MAP   OF    THE   UNITED    STATES,   THE 
BRITISH  PROVIN|(m«M£^WA^PATjH$  )  <I  A  M 
WEST  INDIES,  sliQwtagitbft  ^«fltryh1rQWnth?n<«if!  .., 
Atlantic    to   the    Pacifi^mOtofcftiN  n  ^xtra^rdinatfj^.  l,rn; 
pains    has    been    taken,,  tPr.jWftkfll  tftip  .Miapv 
fectly  reliable  and  authfcnt^f'^-aJiiirflfcpeQt*.  l. 
engraved  on    steel   in  the.  best  ;.  sty.le  .of  the 
and  is  a  very  perfect  Map  of  the  inhabited   por- 
tions of  North  America.    <Im>  rteehboBs'  !ati3  .  iefrhdnri*  >  M  A  K 
ries  especially,  it  deserves  tb.itafcp^pVeoeyeucei  o£!t'>iffrt 
all  Maps  heretofore  published'  in  -this)  etot«ta^U**8  bni; 
4  sheets  .................  j  Jo  IL  .  JJ  .  /L<J62'^yl55uI.l  %00 

Milt     In    hnn    ..u^'v\\  '\\r\\, 

MAP  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  THE  BRrjW^  v 
ISH  PROVINCES,  with  parts  of  Mexico  and  the 
West  Indies.—  4  sheets  ................  48  by  38.      2,00 

MI  IT  /rr/;>a  '-10  MAM 


AN     ILLUSTRATED     MAP  -;,|QF/ 
LIFE,  deduced  from  passages  of 

1  sheet  .......................  Hti..^H¥a5ib.y:2^,  ti-u)UT5 

THE  FAMILY  AND  SCHOOL  kBSWS^^ria   t 

Educational  Chart,  by  James  Henry,  Jr."  *  In  this 
Chart  the  fundamental  maxims  in  Edueajiooi'PJiy&l-O  M  A  I/I 
cal,  Moral  and  Intellectual,  are  presented-iaMSijiieiljk  '<< 
a  manner,  as  to  fix  the  attention  and  impress  the  H!H  i 
memory.     It  cannot  fail  to  be  eminently  useful  ;  in- 
deed, we  believe  the  public  will  regard  it?'  ds^ifadii^ 
pensable  to  every  family  and  school  in  our  cmmtiry>.     l>nr: 

2  sheets  .......................  -  .......  -42  by.  3$  »K,  60 


P  MAPS,  ATLASSES,  GUIDE  BOOKS, 

almost  every  description  wanted,  will  also  b«  founds  iv 

at  the  same  place,  and  sold  on  reasonable  term*.  >rfe  I 


Moon' 

MAP  OP  SOUTH  AMERICA,  by  J.  Pinkerton, 
London,  revised  and  corrected  from  the  latest 
authorities. — 1  sheet 32  by  25.  1 

MAP  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES  AND  ADJA- 
CENT COASTS,  by  J.  Pinkerton,  London,  re- 
vised and  corrected  from  the  latest  authorities.— 

1  sheet, 32  by  25.      1 

Portable,  75c. 

MAP  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES,  WITH  PART 
OF  GUATEMALA.  By  David  H.  Burr.— 
1  sheet 26  by  22.  3 

Portable,  50c. 

MAP  OF  FRANCE,  BELGIUM,  and  the  adja- 
cent countries,  by  J.  Pinkerton,  London,  revised 
and  corrected  from  the  latest  authorities. — 
1  sheet 32  by  25. 

MAP  OF  MEXICO.— 2  sheets 44  by  32.      J 

Portable,  1,50. 

MAP  OF  THE  CITY  OF  BROOKLYN,  as  laid 
out  by  commissioners  and  confirmed  by  acts  of  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  of  New- York,  made  from 
actual  surveys  ;  the  farm  lines  and  names  of  origi- 
nal owners  being  accurately  drawn  from  authentic 
sources.  Containing,  also,  a  map  of  the  Village  of 
Williamsburgh  and  part  of  the  City  of  New-  York, 
frc.  <Vc. — 2  sheets 48  by  36. 

MAP  OF  THE  COUNTRY,  THIRTY-THREE 
MILES  AROUND  THE  CITY  OF  NEW- 
YORK,  compiled  from  the  Maps  of  the  United 
States  Coast  Survey,  and  other  authorities. — 

1  sheet 29  by  26. 

Portable,  75c. 

STREAM  OF  TIME,  OR  CHART  OF  UNI- 
VERSAL HISTORY,  from  the  original 
German  of  Strauss,  revised  by  D.  Haskell. — 

2  sheets 48  by  32. 


Mounted. 

MAP  OF  THE  COUNTRIES  MENTIONED 
IN  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT,  AND  THE 
TRAVELS  OF  THE  APOSTLES,  with  An- 
cient and  Modern  Names,  from  the  most  authen- 
tic sources. — 1  sheet 32  by  25.  1,25 

MAP  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AME- 
RICA, THE  BRITISH  PROVINCES, 
MEXICO,  THE  WEST  INDIES  AND 
CENTRAL  AMERICA,  WITH  PARTS 
OF  NEW  GRANADA  AND  VENEZUE- 
LA. This  Map  has  been  most  carefully  com- 
piled, and  contains  much  new  and  interesting  in- 
formation. It  is  highly  embellished,  and  beauti- 
fully engraved  on  steel. — 2  sheets 45  by  36.  2,50 

JOHNSON'S  ILLUSTRATED  AND  EMBEL- 
LISHED STEEL  PLATE  MAP  OF  THE 
WORLD,    ON    MERCATOR'S    PROJEC- 
TION, exhibiting  the  recent  Arctic  and  Antarc- 
tic  Discoveries   and   Explorations,  &c.  &c. — 
6  sheets 80  by  60.     10,00 

MAP  OF  THE  CITY  AND  COUNTY  OF 
NEW-YORK,  BROOKLYN,  WILLIAMS- 
BURGH,  JERSEY  CITY,  AND  THE  AD- 
JACENT WATERS.— 3  plates 56  by  32.  3,00 


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